3545 Symonds Yat circa 1920 RPC802
The width of it's frames give an indication of the rebuild history of GW 3521 Class 4-4-0 3545 as it sits at Symonds Yat with what appears to be a 4 wheel inspection saloon. Designed by Dean the loco was built as a Broad gauge 'convertible' 0-4-2 Saddletank in 1890, the Class was soon found to be extremely poor running and by 1892 all class members had been rebuilt as 0-4-4 Tank Engines (still Broad gauge), further rebuilding to Standard gauge quickly followed. Further rebuilding took place in the period 1899 - 1902 when all Class members were re-formatted to become 4-4-0 tender engines, 26 of the converted locos retained their parallel domed boilers (as illustrated) , but 14 others received the Standard No 3 parallel domeless boiler, this was later replaced by the Standard No 3 tapered boiler. ©Rail Photoprints Collection