HOME | DD

Description
The 1600s were one of the last classes of pannier tank, designed by Fredrick Hawksworth shortly after the end of World War II, but all 70 members were built at Swindon under the auspices of BR from 1949 to 1955. The class can trace its roots to the Dean 2021 class engines of 1897, which themselves were descended from the Armstrong 850 class of 1874. By the time production ceased in 1955, the basic design was 80 years old, though the distinction of the last pre-nationalization design to be built by British Railways belongs to 9400 class number 3409, built by the Yorkshire Engine Company in October 1956. The lives lead by these engines were criminally short, with number 1659 being built in 1955 and being withdrawn in 1960, a working life of only five years. Two worked in Scotland, replacing the solitary Highland Railway W class 0-4-4 tank on the Dornoch Light Railway. Two were sold in the mid 1960s to the National Coal Board. One example is preserved, number 1638, on the Kent and East Sussex Railway and is currently operational after an overhaul in 2016.

Description
The 1600s were one of the last classes of pannier tank, designed by Fredrick Hawksworth shortly after the end of World War II, but all 70 members were built at Swindon under the auspices of BR from 1949 to 1955. The class can trace its roots to the Dean 2021 class engines of 1897, which themselves were descended from the Armstrong 850 class of 1874. By the time production ceased in 1955, the basic design was 80 years old, though the distinction of the last pre-nationalization design to be built by British Railways belongs to 9400 class number 3409, built by the Yorkshire Engine Company in October 1956. The lives lead by these engines were criminally short, with number 1659 being built in 1955 and being withdrawn in 1960, a working life of only five years. Two worked in Scotland, replacing the solitary Highland Railway W class 0-4-4 tank on the Dornoch Light Railway. Two were sold in the mid 1960s to the National Coal Board. One example is preserved, number 1638, on the Kent and East Sussex Railway and is currently operational after an overhaul in 2016.