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Taurus was an 0-6-0ST broad gauge locomotive operated by the South Devon Railway.

Taurus
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Avonside Engine Company
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-6-0ST Gauge 7 ft (2,134 mm) Driver dia. 3 ft 0 in (0.91 m) Wheelbase 12 ft 0 in (3.66 m) Cylinder size 12+1⁄2 in × 16 in (320 mm × 410 mm)
Career Operators South Devon Railway, Great Western Railway Class Taurus

It was a very different locomotive to all the other 0-6-0s used on the South Devon Railway. It was much smaller and was normally used on one of the branches, where it would regularly work passenger trains, or on the dockside lines in the Plymouth area. It was built by the Avonside Engine Company and was a saddle tank similar to 2-4-0 Prince.

On 1 February 1876 the South Devon Railway was amalgamated with the Great Western Railway, all its locomotives were given numbers by their new owners but continued to carry their names too. After the gauge conversion on 21 May 1892 Taurus was unused for a while but in 1894 it was converted to standard gauge and worked in this form as no. 1326 until 1905.

Locomotive

• Taurus (1869 – 1892) GWR no. 2170

The name comes from the Greek word for bull and represents a constellation. See Taurus (constellation).

References

• Reed, P.J.T. (February 1953). White, D.E. (ed.). The Locomotives of the Great Western Railway, Part 2: Broad Gauge. Kenilworth: The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. ISBN 0-901115-32-0. OCLC 650490992.
• Beck, Keith; Copsey, John (1990). The Great Western in South Devon. Didcot: Wild Swan Publications. ISBN 0-906867-90-8.
• Gregory, R H (1982). The South Devon Railway. Salisbury: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-85361-286-2.
• Waters, Laurence (1999). The Great Western Broad Gauge. Hersham: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 0-7110-2634-3.
• Railway company records at The National Archives

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