Steam Locomotives of a Leisurely Era – 1939 3-Cylinder 4-6-0 – Great Southern Railway

No.801 as running in 1948.

Three engines built in 1939 for working the heaviest expresses over the main line between Dublin and Cork. They were named after the Queens of Ireland, No.800 ‘Maeve’, 801 ‘Mocha’ and 802 ‘Tailte’, and were destined to be the last new conventional steam locomotives constructed for the GSR or Coras Iompair Eireann, as it later became. They were the most powerful express locomotives ever built for an Irish railway, and their remarkable similarity to the English rebuilt ‘Royal Scots’ will be noted.
Since dieselisation there has been little suitable work for them, and No.802 was broken up in 1957. As a matter of interest the dimensions of the LMS rebuilt ‘Royal Scots’ are shown for comparison.
GSR 800 class – Driving wheels – 6’ 7”, Cylinders (3) – 18½”x 28”, Pressure – 225 lb., Tractive effort – 33000 lb., Weight 84 tons
LMS rebuilt ‘Royal Scots’ – Driving wheels – 6’ 9”, Cylinders (3) – 18”x 28”, Pressure – 250 lb., Tractive effort – 33150 lb., Weight 83 tons

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