It appears from GWR Auto Trailers by John Lewis, published by Wild Swan Books that the RR had five, possibly six, auto trailers with the equipment being fitted between 1915 and 1920.
There appears to be consensus that Class L, 2-4-2 ST No 66 was fitted with auto gear in 1915 (RCTS Part 10 dispute's Kidner's statement that 65 was fitted too, and the arguments sound sound).
Did the RR only have one loco that was capable of auto working then?
Rod
Rhymney Railway auto-fitted locos
-
Newport_rod
- Posts: 397
- Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:38 pm
- Location: Above the Hillfield Tunnel.
Rhymney Railway auto-fitted locos
My old layout Llanastr; my WIP layout Crindau Pill; my club Newport MRS
Hoff Rheilffyrdd Aberhonddu a Merthyr Tydfil yw y gorau sydd yng Nghymru - Twm Glan Crawnon 1865
Hoff Rheilffyrdd Aberhonddu a Merthyr Tydfil yw y gorau sydd yng Nghymru - Twm Glan Crawnon 1865
-
Joe RLVW
- Posts: 18
- Joined: Tue Apr 08, 2025 11:04 am
Re: Rhymney Railway auto-fitted locos
Hi Rod,
Interesting question.
The speaker at the AGM who talked about early S Wales Metro, including auto trains might be worth contacting as he had lots of interesting information. Perhaps someone in the WRRC committee who has the speakers contact details, who might read this comment, could pass Rod's query on please?
I looked elsewhere but couldn't find a specific answer. There is a discussion on RM Web that you might find interesting by way of background?
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/150381-gw ... /#comments
The following comments from the above thread in particular might help a bit at least:
"To add just a smidgen to that comprehensive reply, in GW days only lower powered 6 wheel engines were auto fitted. Pre group classes seem to have had it added and removed quite readily, one may guess that when a loco went in for a heavy repair the gear was taken off and put on the next suitable outbound."
i.e. RR auto gear was potentially easy to move around.
"In the early 50s the Coryton service seemed to be used as a sort of retirement home for pre-grouping trailers from the Cardiff, Taff Vale, and Rhymney, usually kept in 2 car matching sets."
Perhaps this practice of 2 car sets was used on RR too, meaning only 3 locos needed rather than 5 or 6?
Hope this helps a bit at least.
Regards,
Joe RLVW
Interesting question.
The speaker at the AGM who talked about early S Wales Metro, including auto trains might be worth contacting as he had lots of interesting information. Perhaps someone in the WRRC committee who has the speakers contact details, who might read this comment, could pass Rod's query on please?
I looked elsewhere but couldn't find a specific answer. There is a discussion on RM Web that you might find interesting by way of background?
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/150381-gw ... /#comments
The following comments from the above thread in particular might help a bit at least:
"To add just a smidgen to that comprehensive reply, in GW days only lower powered 6 wheel engines were auto fitted. Pre group classes seem to have had it added and removed quite readily, one may guess that when a loco went in for a heavy repair the gear was taken off and put on the next suitable outbound."
i.e. RR auto gear was potentially easy to move around.
"In the early 50s the Coryton service seemed to be used as a sort of retirement home for pre-grouping trailers from the Cardiff, Taff Vale, and Rhymney, usually kept in 2 car matching sets."
Perhaps this practice of 2 car sets was used on RR too, meaning only 3 locos needed rather than 5 or 6?
Hope this helps a bit at least.
Regards,
Joe RLVW