- Source: BCDR 4-6-4T
The Belfast and County Down (BCDR) 4-6-4 T were a class of four 6-coupled tank locomotives build by Beyer, Peacock & Company in 1920. Generally reliable and well-liked but with mediocre performance, they spent their lives on the Queen's Quay, Belfast to Bangor until withdrawal in the early 1950s. These were the only class of 4-6-4T wheel arrangement to work on Ireland’s broad gauge lines. The County Donegal Joint Railway Committee’s Class 4 used the same arrangement on narrow gauge.
History
At the end of World War I, the BCDR needed more powerful locomotives, and the directors were impressed by the LB&SCR L class express tank engines used on the London to Brighton line. Petterson thus ordered locomotive superintendent R. G. Miller to construct a class of similar engines. When the locomotives arrived in 1920 from Beyer, Peacock & Company they were inherited by Miller's successor Crossthwait. The BCDR locomotives were smaller than their English basis, with 19 in × 26 in (483 mm × 660 mm) cylinders and 5 ft 9 in driving wheels compared to 22 in × 28 in (559 mm × 711 mm) cylinders and 6 ft 9 in driving wheels. Despite this, at over 81 tons the locomotives were noted for being very heavy.
Numbered 22 to 25, they were allocated to heavy commuter trains on the 12+1⁄4 miles (19.7 km) Belfast Queen's Quay to Bangor line. In service, the class was reliable but performance was mediocre and coal consumption was very high. Boocock has described them as "handsome" and "well-liked" and suggests the problem may have been due to short-travel piston valves rather than drafting.
The BCDR was absorbed into the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) on 3 September 1948, and the class was renumbered 222 to 225. Class WT 2-6-4T tank engines were transferred to the Bangor line from summer 1949 and their performance was substantially better, after which they began to replace the BCDR engines. With the introduction of UTA MED diesel railcars, the Bangor line lost all steam working by 1953. Only one worked past 1952, with No. 222 surviving on the former Northern Counties Committee network with the remainder being withdrawn at Queen's Quay sidings. All were ultimately scrapped in 1956.
References
= Notes
== Footnotes
== Sources
=Bairstow, Martin (2007). Railways in Ireland. Vol. Part Two:Belfast and County Down. ISBN 978-1871944334. OCLC 931393119.
Boocock, Colin (1 October 2009). Locomotive Compendium Ireland (First ed.). Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 9780711033603. OCLC 423592044.
Patterson, Edward Mervyn (1982) [1958]. Belfast and County Down Railway. Newton Abbott: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-8306-X. OCLC 16552845.
Rowledge, J. W. Peter (1993). Irish Steam Loco Register. Stockport, England: Irish Traction Group. ISBN 9780947773335. OCLC 30815253.
Patterson, Edward M. (1969). The County Donegal Railways. ISBN 0-7153-4376-9.