The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) Class 341 consisted of a single 4-4-0 express passenger locomotive named Sir William Goulding introduced in 1913 for the Dublin—Cork route. Despite being an apparently capable design it was withdrawn in 1928.^[1]: 116

Design

Design was begun by Robert Coey who retired through ill health and completed by Richard Maunsell who was later to design the UK Southern Railway Schools 4-4-0. Equipped with a large diameter boiler and Schmidt superheater. It was unique for the GS&WR and its successor the GSR in having inside Walschaerts valve gear. This design was at the limit achievable by a 4-4-0 within the axle weight restriction limits and it was weighed regularly to ensure compliance. The only change to the initial design was a later reduction in cylinder diameter ^{[1]: 57, 116}

Service

Due to weight restrictions it served on the Dublin—Cork route only where from 1916 it later shared services with the new EA Watson designed 400 Class 4-6-0 against which engine 341 seems to have compared favourably.^{[1]: 57, 116, 233–235}

Withdrawal

The locomotive was withdrawn in 1928 after just 15 years, three 400 class express locomotives were also retired shortly afterwards as surplus to requirements.^{[1]: 57, 116, 233–235}

Model

There is a detailed O Gauge model of engine 341 in the Fry model railway collection.^[1]: 380

References