1340 - Trojan

1340 ‘Trojan’ was built by the Avonside Engine Company of Bristol in 1897 (Works No. 1386) for Messrs Dunn & Shute of Newport Town Dock. She was purchased by the Alexandra Docks Railway in 1903, remaining unnumbered. This company owned around 100 miles of dock sidings in the Newport (South Wales) area and a 'main' passenger-carrying line of 10 miles or so.

On absorption of the Alexandra Docks Railway into the Great Western in 1923, ‘Trojan’ received the number 1340. She moved freely around GWR territory, and although based mainly at Cardiff Cathays and Radyr depots also worked for a time in Oswestry and Greenford, London. Withdrawn from Cardiff by the GWR in July 1932, it was sold to the Netherseal colliery at Burton-on-Trent, who passed it on to Alders (Tamworth) Ltd in 1947.

After several years of negotiations she was finally released to one of the Didcot regular workforce, arriving at the depot in April 1968. The locomotive has been under restoration for many years at Didcot. The main stumbling block has been the boiler, the original was in a very poor state and was scrapped at Didcot quite a few years ago. A substitute was purchased and sent to Chatham for modification. This job was never completed, and the stripped down boiler was returned to Didcot and rebuilt on site.

The locomotive entered traffic, for the first time in preservation, in 2002.

With the expiry of the boiler certificate the locomotive was withdrawn from traffic in October 2011 and was overhauled once more, this time by Loughborough-based engineering company, Locomotive Maintenance Services. She returned to Didcot in March 2021 and is currently part of the operating fleet.

Status

Operational

Build date

1897

Built at

Avonside Engine Company of Bristol (Works No. 1386)

Original railway

Messrs Dunn & Shute of Newport Town Dock

Wheel arrangement

0-4-0ST

Route availability

All Routes

Barrel diameter

3 feet 5.5 inches

Barrel length

8 feet 3.25 inches

Boiler pressure

160 lbs/sq in

Boiler type

Non - GWR

Coal capacity

10 cwt

Cylinders

(2) 14 x 20 inches

Heating surfaces, firebox

52 sq ft

Firegrate

8.25 sq ft

Power class

Unclassed

Superheater area

None

Tractive effort

11,100 pounds

Heating surfaces, tubes

414 sq ft

Water capacity

630 Gals

Weight

22 tons 17 cwt

Wheel diameter

3 feet 0 inches

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