On an excursion to Barry- it already looks quite warm, the door droplights are down

Peter Kerslake says "What a first class picture of 2280 , one of four of the " 2251 " class allocated to Newport at about this time , heading no less than eight passenger coaches and displaying how versatile these engines were , with their large boilers well able to provide enough steam for workings such as this as well as heavy freight duties .
Their only disadvantage was that their weight , mainly due to that massive boiler , placed them in a yellow route restriction class , so their use on small branch lines was precluded , but they made up for that by working widely throughout the Great Western network from Depots within the Cambrian in West Wales to the London suburban services from Old Oak and Southall Depots .
In the mid ' fifties the class of 120 of the original design was spread over no less than twenty six Motive Power Depots , ranging from Machynlleth in West Wales to Shrewsbury in the North , Old Oak Common in the East and Exeter in the far West".