GWR 7200 Class. The Great Western Railway (GWR) 7200 Class is a class of 2-8-2T steam locomotive.  They were the only 2-8-2Ts built and used by a British railway, and the largest tank engines to run on the Great Western Railway.

Rebuild and operation 
Originally, the 4200 class and 5205 class 2-8-0T were introduced for short-haul Welsh coal traffic, but the stock market crash of 1929 saw coal traffic dramatically fall. Built specifically for the short runs of heavy trains in the South Wales Coalfield, Charles Collett took the agreed decision to rebuild some of them with an extended coal carrying capacity and thus greater range and usefulness by adding  to the frames, requiring the addition of a trailing wheel set, making them 2-8-2T.

With the work carried out at Swindon Works, the first to be converted was 5275 (lot 266), which returned to traffic numbered 7200 in August 1934. A photograph of the prototype was taken on 27 July 1934 outside Swindon Works 'A Shop'. Nos. 5276–5294 were similarly rebuilt between August and November 1934, becoming 7201–7219, and Nos. 7220–7239 were rebuilt from 5255 to 5274 between August 1935 and February 1936; with both batches, the rebuilding was not in numerical order, but the new numbers were in the same sequence as the old. Nos. 7240–7253, rebuilt August 1937–December 1939, were selected at random from locomotives numbered in the 4200 series. This last batch of conversions had been authorised on Lot 318.

In 1937 the "scuttle" bunkers were fitted to the final fourteen of 42xx rebuilds (7240–53). This bunker modification consisted of a higher rivet line increasing the class's water capacity by an extra 200/300 gallons however reducing the coal capacity by 1 ton. These new bunkers were later fitted to a random handful of the class outside this batch including No. 7200, No. 7201, No. 7210 and No. 7239 during their heavy overhauls. No. 7200 is the only surviving loco of its class to have this unique feature.

The 54 rebuilt locos found work in most parts of the GWR system, where their   weight was allowed, although the rebuilt chassis length did get them banned from certain goods yards. Many found work in the home counties, deployed on iron ore and stone trains from Banbury.

On 17 May 1941 No. 7238 ran into a bomb crater at Budbrook, near Hatton on the Banbury to Wolverhampton line.

Withdrawal 
The first member of the class to be withdrawn was number 7241 in November 1962, whilst the last four engines in traffic served until June 1965. Four of the class were bought by Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, and No. 7226 was scrapped there in 1965.

Preservation 
Three locomotives survive, all recovered from Woodham Brothers, though none have yet been returned to operational condition. However, in November 2020, the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre announced that a major milestone was reached with No. 7200.

Both No. 7200 and No. 7202 have reached the final stages of overhaul.

Models
In 2012, Hornby released models of the 7200 class in both the original GWR green and BR black.

See also 
 List of GWR standard classes with two outside cylinders

References

External links 

 Great Western Archive – 7200 Class
 The 7200 Trust – Restoring 7200

2-8-2T locomotives
7200 Class
Railway locomotives introduced in 1934
Freight locomotives
Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
1′D1′ h2t locomotives