The Great Western Railway9400 Class is a class of 0-6-0pannier tank steam locomotive, used for shunting and banking duties. The first ten 9400s were the last steam engines built by the GWR. After nationalisation in 1948, another 200 were built by private contractors for British Railways. Most had very short working lives as the duties for which they were designed disappeared through changes in working practices or were taken over by diesel locomotives. Two locomotives survived into preservation, with the oldest of the class, 9400 as part of the National Collection.
Design
The 9400 class was the final development in a long lineage of tank locomotives that can be directly traced to the 645 Class of 1872. Over the decades details altered, the most significant being the adoption of Belpaire fireboxes necessitating pannier tanks. The 9400 resembled a pannier tank version of the 2251 class, and indeed shared the same boiler and cylinders as the 2251, but was in fact a taper-boilered development of the 8750 subgroup of the 5700 class. The advantage was a useful increase in boiler power, but there was a significant weight penalty that restricted route availability. The 10 GWR-built locomotives had superheaters but the remainder did not. The first ten 9400s were built by the Great Western and were the last steam engines built by the company. After the nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948, private contractors built another 200 for British Railways. The 9400s were numbered 9400–9499, 8400–8499 and 3400–3409. BR gave them the power classification 4F.
The 9400 class were used on Paddington empty stock work right up to the end of steam on the Western Region of British Railways. A familiar sight at the buffer stops at departure side in 1964–1965 was a filthy 9400 class locomotive devoid of number plates simmering at the head of a rake of British Railways Mark 1 coaches. Numbers 8400 to 8406 served as bank engines on the Lickey Incline after its transferral to the Western Region.
Withdrawal
In retrospect they were a wasteful investment, many having very short lives of less than 10 years as their intended work dried up and diesels took over their remaining duties. 8447 holds the unenviable record of the shortest life of any GWR loco in BR times, beginning in August 1954 and ending just four years and nine months later in May 1959.
Preservation
Two have been preserved:
Models
produced a model of the class in 00 gauge between 1978 and 1985 also Graham Farish produced an 00 model in the 1960s. Graham Farish manufacture a model of the 94xx in N scale. Bachmann are producing a model of the 94xx in 00 scale,. The new 00 model is due to release in September with 4 options available.
