The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) Class 362, also known as class B3, consisted of six locomotives designed by Robert Coey and built between 1905 and 1907 for goods traffic and was the first tender locomotive to utilise the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement in Ireland.[a]
History
The class was designed to be more powerful than his preceding class 355 0-6-0.[2] It was the first mainline use of the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement in Ireland, and an axle loading of under 16 long tons (16 t).[1]
Chas. S. Lake, in his book Locomotives of 1906 illustrated the type as an example of the 4-6-0 becoming considered for other than express passenger usage, the Class 362 with its 5 ft 1+3⁄4 in (1,568 mm) driving wheels optimised for freight work.[3] The GS&WR selected engine 366 to be displayed at the 1907 Dublin Exhibition.[1]
While the designed increase in power was achieved the type did have some operational issues, these included being too long for some turntables, a tendency for rough riding at speed and incidents of derailment due to lack of weight on the forward bogie.[b] The class did not compare favourably with class 355 when the former were converted to the 2-6-0 wheel arrangement and were withdrawn by 1931.[1]
