Great Western Railway class 2600 “Aberdare”

For the coal traffic between Aberdare and Swindon, the GWR had 81 2-6-0 locomotives built from 1900 onwards, also called the “Aberdare class”. It was built under Dean and the first to be built, number 33, still had a conventional boiler with a Belpaire firebox, which the 4-4-0 express train locomotives of the Bulldog class also had. All others already got Churchward's tapered boiler. The last nine were rebuilds of the class 2602 “Kruger”.

A striking feature was the massive outside frame. The first ones received a superheater as early as 1908. The first withdrawals took place from 1934, but some were reactivated again during the Second World War. There were twelve remaining when British Railways was founded, but they disappeared by 1949.