Railway Operating Division
Robust and straightforward, the Class 8K 2-8-0 steamed well and proved outstandingly reliable, qualities that commended the design to the Ministry of Munitions. Sir Sam Fay ensured that it became the standard locomotive during the First World War as the ROD 2-8-0, used by the Railway Operating Division of the Royal Engineers. 521 ROD locomotives were built in 1917-19 to essentially the same design as the GCR's 8K locomotives, differing only in minor details. After the war the surviving ROD locomotives were sold to various railway companies, with the GCR itself purchasing 3 in 1919, which were added to its indigenous 8K fleet.
Other surplus ROD locomotives were sold to the London and North Western Railway (30 locomotives), its successor the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (75 locomotives), the Great Western Railway (100 locomotives, see GWR 3000 Class), and to various purchasers in Australia and China. Many of these had short lives with their new owners - the LMS locomotives were all scrapped or sold by the 1930s, and half of the GWR fleet was gone by 1930. However, other GWR engines survived well into the 1950s. The last of 13 locomotives sold to J & A Brown for use on the Richmond Vale railway line in Australia was retired in 1973, and 3 locomotives in China was retired in 1990.
Read more about this topic: GCR Class 8K
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