#0390
GWR 157 Class (Dean)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by Swindon Works· from 1878· class of 10 British 2-2-2 locomotives, built 1878–79
what is it?
The 157 Class of 2-2-2 steam locomotives designed in 1878–79 by William Dean was originally regarded as a reconstruction or renewal of Daniel Gooch's own 157 Class of 1862. But, as was often the case, these Dean engines were new, and had more in common with Armstrong's more recent (and larger) Queen Class, than with the original 157s. The latter had themselves been rebuilds of engines originally built by Sharp, Stewart and Company, which was probably the source of the enduring nickname Sharpies for the new engines.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 148 years ago, in 1878.
- Served for 36 years (1878–1914).
steam locomotive: Burns coal, wood or oil to boil water; the steam drives pistons that turn the wheels.
spec sheet
- built
- 1878
- in service from
- 1878
- retired
- 1914
- status
- retired
- number built
- 10
- kind
- Steam
- traction
- steam
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- Swindon Works
- designer
- William Dean
- operators
- Great Western Railway
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- wheel arrangement
- 2-2-2
- nicknames
- Sharpies or Cobhams
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q16986524, Wikipedia: GWR 157 Class (Dean) (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.