Powlesland and Mason (railway shunting contractors)

Powlesland and Mason were a company that provided steam locomotives and crews for shunting within Swansea Docks. The first name has sometimes been spelt "Powesland" and it is uncertain which spelling is correct.^{[citation needed]}

Early history

Powlesland and Mason (P&M) were a Swansea-based firm that existed between 1903 and the merger of their railway operations into the Great Western Railway (GWR) on 1 January 1924. As at 1 January 1924, P&M were operating nine steam locomotives on shunting activities within Swansea docks, supplementing the locomotives of the Swansea Harbour Trust.^[1]

Operations under Great Western Railway ownership

The GWR continued to use the ex-P&M steam locomotives for shunting and short-trip freight train workings throughout the GWR's existence. Latterly, some P&M locomotives were based at locomotive sheds away from the immediate vicinity of Swansea docks,^[2] including Danygraig shed, to the east of Swansea, which was located to the west of Jersey Marine railway station.^[3]

Locomotives operated

Main article: GWR 0-4-0ST

Powlesland & Mason Peckett 0-4-0ST GWR No. 1152 (P&M No.12) at Danygraig loco shed (Swansea) in May 1960

Powlesland and Mason utilised a fleet of nine 0-4-0ST saddle tank shunting locomotives on their railway duties within Swansea docks. The locos had been built between 1874 and 1916. The oldest, P&M No.7, was a former Raven Class broad gauge locomotive constructed for the South Devon Railway Company in 1874, and was sold by the GWR to P&M in 1906.

The P&M engines had been built by five different firms of locomotive constructors: Peckett and Sons (4 locos); Brush Electrical (2 locos); Avonside (1 loco); Andrew Barclay (1 loco); and Hawthorn Leslie and Company (1 loco).^[1]

Preservation

Four of the locomotives survived to be taken into ownership of British Railways Western Region in 1948 and the last to be withdrawn from service was Peckett-built BR No. 1152 (P&M No. 12; GWR No. 935) in 1963.^[4]

Today, only one Powlesland and Mason locomotive survives in preservation. This is P&M loco No.6 (GWR No. 921) built by Brush in 1903/06 and sold by the GWR in 1929 to a private operator for further service. It is on public display, but not operational, at the Mountsorrel Railway in Leicestershire wearing No. 921.^[5]