TheGWR 56 Class were2-4-0tender locomotives designed for theGreat Western Railway byJoseph Armstrong and built atSwindon Works between 1871 and 1872.

There were 11 engines in the class, of which the prototype, No. 56 itself, was built in 1871; the remaining ten were numbered 717–726 and appeared the following year. They were built on Lot numbers 27 and 29 respectively.^[1] They were larger and longer than Armstrong's439 and481 classes, and the originalboilers were of the type used for his goods engines. Thedriving wheels were 6 ft 0 in (1.829 m) in diameter.

Ahrons states that Nos. 56, 717, 719, 720 and 724 were allocated for 20 years to Weymouth, and that the rest were atBordesley for even longer, hauling trains to Chester and Hereford. All ran more than a million miles, and they were withdrawn between 1903 and 1919.^[2]

On 12 November 1894, locomotive No. 720 was hauling a boat train that was derailed atYetminster,Dorset due to flood damaged track.^[3]

• Allcock, N. J.; Davies, F. K.; le Fleming, H. M.; Maskelyne, J. N.; Reed, P. J. T.; Tabor, F. J. (1968) [1951]. White, D. E. (ed.).The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, part one: Preliminary Survey. Kenilworth:RCTS.
• Earnshaw, Alan (1990).Trains in Trouble: Vol. 6. Penryn: Atlantic Books.ISBN 0-906899-37-0.
• Tabor, F. J. (February 1956). White, D. E. (ed.).The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, part four: Six-wheeled Tender Engines. Kenilworth:RCTS.

• Great Western Railway locomotives
• 2-4-0 locomotives
• 1B n2 locomotives
• Standard-gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
• Railway locomotives introduced in 1871
• Passenger locomotives in the United Kingdom

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