Roger Winnen
On High with Jon Hird
PART 48
Michael L. Roach
The prototype of this 0-6-0 pannier tank class was numbered 5400, was built in August 1930 and sent to Cathays at Cardiff and withdrawn less than two years later in June 1932, because it was a rebuild, to be replaced by a brand new engine with the same number. The class would eventually number just 25 examples and were built between Nov 1931 and Dec 1935. The class was very similar to the 6400 class of which the first one appeared in Feb 1932. Both classes were fitted with the necessary gear for working auto trains. The principal difference between the two classes was in the size of the driving wheels. The 6400s had 4 feet 7½ driving wheels – the same as the 5700 pannier tanks while the 5400s had 5 feet 2 inch driving wheels giving a higher turn of speed. The 5400s went new to Frome, Westbury and Southall Sheds and then to sheds in an arc northwards and westwards to Stafford Road Shed, Wolverhampton. Fifteen of the 25 went new to Southall Shed to work the auto trains in the Thames Valley. The class was always rare in Devon and Cornwall. 5412 went new to Southall but was at Laira at nationalisation and then went to Taunton being withdrawn at Exeter in April 1962. 5411 was at Taunton from May 1951 to June 1958. I only ever recorded seeing two examples of the class 5410 and 5414. At any distance it was difficult to distinguish between the 5400 and 6400 class. The first 5400 was withdrawn in December 1956 and by the beginning of 1962 there were just five left: two at Westbury and one each at Exeter, Lydney and Oswestry. Three of the class went to Yeovil Town Shed in 1963 and two ended their days there later the same year.
MLR / 16 October 2023