page_title: GWR 5600 Class
section_title: Service
hierarchical_section_title: GWR 5600 Class / Service
caption_attribution_description: English: Up coal train passing Newport High Street station. View west, towards Cardiff, the Western Vallets etc.: ex-GW South Wales main line and branches. Here we have the Station and its lines recently rearranged, with the main lines straddling the island on the right, the Down Main nearest. The Class H mineral is headed by one of the ubiquitous (in South Wales) Collett '5600' class 0-6-2Ts, No. 6614 (built 10/27, withdrawn 6/65 - two months after the photograph). The young Spotters are probably more interested in the new BR/Paxman 650hp Type 1 (later Class 14) 0-6-0 Diesel-Hydraulic in the siding on the left: No. 9519 was built 10/64 but was withdrawn in 10/68! By April 1965 about half the busy traffic at Newport was already 'Diselised'. [Can anyone 'out there' recognise himself on the right?]
context_page_description: The GWR 5600 Class is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotive built between 1924 and 1928. They were designed by C.B Collett for the Great Western Railway, and were introduced into traffic in 1924. After the 1923 grouping, Swindon inherited a large and variable collection of locomotives from historic Welsh railway companies, which did not fit into their standardisation programme. GWR boiler inspectors arrived en masse and condemned many of the original locomotives. The systematic destruction of many examples of locomotives, most still in serviceable condition, followed.
  Two hundred GWR 5600 class replacement locomotives were built and remained in service until withdrawn by British Railways between 1962 and 1965. Nine of the class have survived into preservation.
context_section_description: A fall in the South Wales coal trade in the 1930s saw many of the class re-allocated to other parts of the system. Due to the stability of the design, many drivers would typically operate the 56xx class down the Welsh valleys in reverse (bunker first). The placement of the trailing wheels helped the engine enter the curves better than if operated in the other direction.  Typically, during operation, when pulling a heavy load the tanks were operated bunker first, and then smokebox first on the return trips up the valleys.
  All the 56xx/66xx locomotives passed into British Railways ownership at nationalisation in 1948, and all remained in service until 1962, at which time they were withdrawn from service quite rapidly, with the onset of diesel traction on BR gaining momentum.  All had been retired by 1965.
caption: 6614 with a coal trian at Newport
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