Taffy Tanks

Aaarrgh! That bl**dy title sets my teeth on edge! Who on earth is responsible for calling a Great Western 56/66xx locomotive a Taffy Tank?

The Taff Vale built (or bought) significant numbers of tank locomotives, and we are lucky to have two of them still with us, numbers 28 & 85. They are (if you must) 'Taffy Tank'.

By the same yardstick, LNWR 1054 & North Stafford No2 must also be Taffy Tanks..... AAARRGH!!!

Rant over, gotta lie down now...

 

Clearly it's because 'Taffy' was a common nickname for a Welshman amongst the English. The 56xx class could be reasonably considered welsh due to their main sphere of operation, hence the welsh monicker was given to them in England. I don't know what they were called in South Wales when in service. Probably '56s'.

Whilst the origin of 'Taffy' clearly originates with the River Taff and the Taff Valley, I would highly doubt that the TVR is the origin of the name when given to 56s - after all, the TVR was not the only pre-grouping railway company in South Wales to make extensive use of 0-6-2Ts. They were something of a trademark of South Wales Railways long before the 56s came along.

 

Is this a recent event?I've never heard of them nicknamed that before?

 

Neither have I. They were, of course, specifically designed for use in south Wales and were meant to replace the various pre-grouping 0-6-2Ts although many of these lasted until well into the nineteen fifties.

The former Taff Vale Railway Class As were common on passenger services, even after the 1953 interval services were launched, and were generally preferred on this work because of their smoother running. They were universally known as Taff As. Perhaps someone from outside the area misinterpreted the pronunciation and jumped to the wrong conclusion..

I have always known the GWR locos as 56s. I have never seen or heard the nickname 'Taffy Tank' except on this forum.

Meic

 

I should say that I've seen it written in a certain railway journal, and I've just seen it repeated on Ebay. I would hope its just sloppy journalism, but these things have a habit of sticking....

Regards,
Ian

 

We had three at least in our area 6657 & 6697 at Leamington 6668 at Tyseley and probably a few more in the area but Taffy tanks never heard the term till recently.

Cheers Dave

 

I'd never heard it before that magazine reference - sensible people will not use it.

 

To clarify my previous comment, I've only heard it used recently too - perhaps it's one of those recent enthusiast things?

I have an inkling that it originates with the 56xx (6695?) at Swanage, as it was in Swanage I heard it first, three or four years ago.

 

Yes, like "Spamcan" for WC/BB. In BR days this nickname was reserved for the Q1s!

 

I'm glad some else hates this term used for a 56XX. It's only a recent name. I can't remember 5619 ever having been called a Taffy Tank in the last 37 years, until relatively recently.

 

It's certainly in the Swanage Magazine I saw last week - but I don't know where it was first coined.

 

I think it's awful - was it "The Beano" that used it first?

 

One thing I absolutely hate is Journo's making up stupid nicknames and phrases etc. It just stinks of gutterpress. We need to find the journalist in question and give him/her a tellin orf! :lol:

 

The only term I can remember was not used for 56/66xx tanks but for 42/52/72xx tanks known sometimes as "big tanks".
I well remember the first one I saw which was 7229 of Banbury clumping through the middle road at Leamington with an iron ore train bound for South Wales.
They made a standard GW prairie look small.

Cheers Dave

 

Taffy seems to have been frequently 'one of Thomas's friends' at a certain railway hauling the big trains whilst Thomas gives brakevan rides!

 

I saw 7229 yesterday...poor thing:Cry:

 

WC/BB been called Spamcans since the early 70s at least.

 

I can't confirm that the term originated at 71B but it certainly has been in use there since the arrival of '95 in 1979. It was OK to start with but has now worn somewhat thin and I have asked that the term not be used in the official publicity, but it still happens! For the record I don't like it either, but it's just one of those things. There are a lot of loco nicknames which originate from the enthusiast fraternity (diesels especially) which railwaymen have never used, but is it worth getting worked up about?

I also believe that the term is used as this class is synonymous with South Wales as opposed to any connection with the TVR. Effectively the 56xx's are the final 'development' of the myriad of Welsh
0-6-2T's and many people associate them with the Valleys. On a point of note 6695 herself was initially a West Midlands engine until 1938 when she moved to Landore (Swansea).

"Spamcan", again not a term I particularly like for such a wonderful machine, but one which has long been in use in their homeland and may well go back to BR days.

 

Q1's were "Charlies", well on South West Division anyhow.