YEAR BUILT : 1922
BUILT BY : BEYER, PEACOCK & CO 
WITHDRAWN : 1962 
NUMBERS CARRIED : 15, 461

No.461 (front) and No.171 storm through Ballysodare on the 12th May 1996.  Photo by J Allen.

No. 461 and sister loco 462 (originally 15 & 16) were built for the heavy goods (freight) traffic on the Dublin - Wexford main line of the D&SER. On account of the risk of damage when new (during the "Troubles" of the early 1920's), both were initially sent to Belfast for safekeeping, returning in 1923.  461 was allocated to the Wexford goods, a duty she carried out regularly until withdrawal in 1962, just before steam ended on CIE (the then State railway system in the Republic of Ireland).  In 1940, 462 acquired a standard GSR "N" class boiler, which was interchanged during subsequent overhauls, ending up on 461.  Wearing their grey livery until the last, they ended their days on the Wexford goods, though 462 was occasionally used on Dublin suburban services.  461's final years on CIE were mostly spent in Waterford working a lot of beet traffic.  462 was scrapped in early 1963, while 461 was painted in DSER livery (with white walled tyres!) and displayed in a siding at the 1968 Inchicore Works Open Day in Dublin.  She was taken to Cork in 1975 and placed in storage.  In 1977 she was presented by CIE to the RPSI and she was taken to the Society's Mullingar base for examination.  Extensive overhaul followed at Whitehead and the locomotive returned to traffic in late 1990. 

Originally she may have been painted DSER green - railwayman Fred Graham remembers her in green at Adelaide in 1923 and there was a Wills cigarette card with her in a dark green livery.  After the D&SER became part of the Great Southern Railways in 1925, she was painted all over unlined dark battleship grey, the drab but standard livery of the GSR.  When the GSR became part of CIE in 1945, this livery was continued until the late 1950's when all over unlined black was applied.  This is the livery she currently carries, along with replica cast numberplates of GSR design, as carried in GSR years. 

Since her new lease of life in the world of preservation, 461 has clocked up many miles of service all over Ireland.  She has been almost everywhere, except (we think) Castlerock to Derry [webmasters note: we had previously said that 461 had not operated from Cork-Cobh.  "40 Shades of Steam" page 141 shows that on the 21st May 1995, day two of the "William Dargan International Railtour" 461 did operate Cork – Cobh - Cork].  She spent most of her time in preservation operation back on her home patch - the highly scenic Dublin - Wexford -Rosslare line - though pulling passengers now instead of freight.   Appropriate, for the only surviving D&SER locomotive.

Overhaul

461 is currently undergoing a very thorough overhaul before returning to main line use. The firebox was found to be in poor condition, and so most of the work so far has been concerned in its repair - in fact, more than half the firebox plating, on both the inner and outer fireboxes, is being replaced with plates made by the volunteers and staff at Whitehead. This is probably the biggest obstacle to be overcome, and this part of the job is thankfully now in its final stages. The firebox is now being hot rivetted back together - RPSI Whitehead is believed to be the last engineering works in Ireland performing hot rivetting.

Since the photo below was taken, the locomotive has been refitted onto its wheels and the motion is being reassembled. There is not yet a date for a return to steam, but any fans of No.461 are heartily encouraged to join in the work at Whitehead! See our volunteering page for more details.

No.461 under overhaul in Whitehead's well equipped workshop in 2006. Photo by M S Walsh.

461's boiler being sandblasted on 27th March 2004.

Work on the firebox, 2005. The foundation ring and inner firebox have been removed and large sections of the outer firebox cut away to be replaced with new plates. This space needs to be totally rebuilt. After the outer firebox was completed, work on the inner firebox was started.

Making a new throat plate (part of the inner firebox), early 2007. These RPSI volunteers are heating a sheet of copper clamped to a specially made former;  the two mallets - with heads made of soft pine - are then used to beat the copper to create the right-angle bend in the edge.