GS&WR 400 Class

The GS&WR 400 class or CIE class B2 were a class of 4-6-0, built for the Great Southern & Western Railway in 1921.

Design

The 400 class was a 4-cylinder 4-6-0 steam locomotive, these, the only 4 cylindered locomotives in Ireland, were not a success. Ten were built, but were considered unreliable, and the majority were rebuilt as two cylinder machines in the late 1920s, although the last to be rebuilt was 407, as late as 1937.

Livery

These locomotives were originally given a black livery, typical of the GS&WR at the time. When the GS&WR, along with several other companies formed to make the GSR, these locomotives were given the GSR Battleship grey livery. In the CIE days, they carried either the GSR grey or the new CIE green, identical to the livery on No.800 Meadbh, although a "Flying snail" should be on the tender, rather than the (incorrect) GSR lettering.

Rebuilding

Due to their unreliability, the class was completely rebuilt, par three, which were scrapped. When the locomotives were rebuilt they became two cylinder machines, and the majority had split footplates, none looked were completely alike to another. For example, No. 401 had a split footplate, while No. 402 had a flush footplate. No. 406 had a flush footplate a far as its cylinders, as the cylinders were higher than the rest of the footplate, they proved far more reliable after their rebuilding, and gave many good years of service to the GSR and CIE.

Service after rebuilding

The 400s were the largest steam locomotives in Ireland until the building of the GSR Class 800. They mainly worked on the Dublin-Cork mainline, pulling expresses and heavy goods traffic, along with seasonal beet trains. In 1950, the Enterprise Express was extended to Cork, and these locomotives, along with the 800s, and possibly 500s, were entrusted with these runs. After the arrival of the Metropolitan Vickers A and C class Diesels, these locomotives were made more redundant. No.401 and 402 were still in service in 1962, but all were scrapped by 1964.

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