GWR 7200 Class

The Great Western Railway 7200 Class was a class of 2-8-2T steam locomotives, the only 2-8-2Ts built and used by a British railway and the largest tank engines to run on the GWR. They were made by rebuilding earlier 2-8-0T locomotives of the 4200 and 5205 classes at Swindon Works after the 1929 stock market crash cut South Wales coal traffic: Charles Collett added 4 feet to the frames, which required a trailing axle and allowed an extended coal bunker for greater range. The first, 5275, returned to traffic as No. 7200 in August 1934, and 54 locomotives were rebuilt by 1939. Weighing 92 long tons 12 cwt, they worked in most parts of the GWR system, including iron ore and stone trains from Banbury. The first was withdrawn in November 1962, the last in June 1965, and three survive.