Time Capsules - Old Photographs from the past

Gwr locomotive no. 1669 was the last 0-6-2pt to be built in the 1600 class. The class was based on the 2021 class designed by dean and built from 1897 onwards. The 1600 class was a pure gwr design but all 70 were built by the western region of british railways. When the last member of the class (the engine in the photograph) was built in 1955, the basic design was over 80 years old. Br gave the 1600 class the power classification 2f. Service life was short, withdrawals started in 1959 and all were gone by 1965 with 1659 having the shortest service (built 1955, withdrawn 1960).
no. 1638, the only member of the class to have been preserved, is on the kent and east sussex railway

On the branch from Whitland to Cardigan, opened in 1873 and closed in 1963. The church on the hill in the background is dedicated to St Bryach. 1669 was probably the last member of Hawksworth's 1600 class of 0-6-PTs, built at Swindon and introduced in 1949

Corrections. The church dedication should read: St Brynach. MB
And neither I nor Peter have the wheel arrangement of the pannier right - it should read 0-6-0PT

There's something strange here, Martin, my Ian Allan 1948 Combined Volume has this entry:
"0-6-2T BM Rly. (Brecon & Merthyr Railway) 1668 1670 Total 13" This does not mention 1669, which was built in 1955 and would not therefore be included in the sequence. The total of 13 does not tally either! I hope there is someone else out there who can clear this up!

Peter. I'm going by my Ian Allan Combined Volume summer 1960 edition. The 1600 class, as you say, was a pure Great Western Design. On page 12, I find '0-6-0PT, 2F, 1600 Class. Introduced 1949. Hawksworth light branch line and shunting design'. At this date 63 locomotives were in existence, in the series 1600-1669.
I'm a bit puzzled by the Brecon & Merthyr reference. Did the 1600 class take over the B&M numbering, from 1949? R C Riley has a shot of 1629 in my edition, clearly showing the loco to be a 0-6-0PT. The GWR didn't build 0-6-2PTs. 0-6-2Ts, yes, but our subject here is a pannier!

Yes, it appears to be a hiccup in the numbering - not unusual for the GWR locomotives taken over by BR!

Cardigan branch. I now learn that the line was first opened to a quarry at Glogue in 1873, 12 miles from Whitland and a little beyond Llanfrynach. Crymmych Arms was reached in late 1874 or 1875 and the full route to Cardigan opened in 1886. The railway company, the Whitland and Cardigan, left operations to the GWR from the outset; the line had numerous gradients, some at 1 in 50 and others steeper: 1 in 35 is recorded.
In the post-war era four passenger trains worked down the branch a day, with three return workings. Some were mixed, but there were also two freights run each way, until the complete closure which came in September 1962.
[Source: D Bertram, British Railways in West Wales. The Railway Magazine, November 1962, 737-745]

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