2-4-0T Class 455 'Metro Tank' GWR Profile and Models

The GWR 455 Class, also called the "Metropolitan" or "Metro" Tanks, was a series of 140 2-4-0T locomotives built for the Great Western Railway, originally for their London suburban services, including running on the underground section of the Metropolitan Railway, the source of their nickname. Later on the class was seen on many other parts of the GWR system. Sixty "Metro" Tanks were built, from 1868 onwards, during the lifetime of their designer, Joseph Armstrong. His successor William Dean regarded the class so highly that he would add a further 80, the final 20 examples appearing as late as 1899. The "Metros" were all built at Swindon Works, in nine lots of ten or 20 engines each. Withdrawal of the earlier locomotives began around 1900, though many others proved long-lived and worked on into the 1930s. Ten of the William Dean 3561-3599 series survived in British Railways ownership in 1948, though the last of them, No. 3599, was withdrawn in December 1949.

(Information provided via Wikipedia)

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