Built by Beyer, Peacock & Co., Manchester, in 1922, under works number 6112, this engine later known as No. 461 has its origins in a proposed design for a large 0-6-0 for goods use on the Dublin and South Eastern Railway in the early 1920s. However, before any were built it was realized that the axle load would be too heavy for the DSER's track. This had actually happened before in 1903, when seven new 0-6-0s had been plagued by constant derailments due to excessive weight on the leading axles, and had to be retrospectively modified to become 2-6-0s.
This time, fortunately, there was time to alter the design before the engines were constructed. The size of the boiler was reduced to lower the total weight, as well as adding a 'pony truck' in front to spread the weight over a greater number of wheels. This resulted in a 2-6-0 or 'Mogul' design.
The engines were delivered in 1922, when Ireland was in the grip of a civil war. The railways frequently came under attack and many engines and other rolling stock were destroyed. Rather than send their brand new engines into this danger the DSER negotiated with the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) to have them stored in the relatively peaceful North until the trouble was over, and so No. 15 (461's number at the time) and No. 16 spent some time at Adelaide shed in Belfast, arriving there on November 14, 1922.
The DSER took the engines back at the end of May 1923 but did not keep them very long. In 1925 the new Irish Free State forced the amalgamation of all the railway companies that were completely within the state. The new company was called Great Southern Railways.
At first the only change was that in 1925, when No. 15 was overhauled at Limerick, her number plates were somehow altered to remove the small letters 'DSER' and replace them with 'GSR'. However the GSR later changed the engines' numbers, making them Nos. 461 (15) and 462 (16). They were referred to both as 'Class 461' and 'Class K2'.
Although always intended as goods engines, the K2 class were found to be quite satisfactory for passenger work as well. Both engines led a double life, working local passenger trains by day and heavy goods by night. They were considered very capable and versatile, and No.461 was reputedly the better of the two.
Both engines had their boilers replaced at different times No. 462 was rebuilt for the first time in 1940, receiving a type 'N' boiler. This was a standard GSR design used in six different locomotive classes.
In 1944 both No. 461 and No. 462 were rebuilt. After this overhaul No. 461 emerged with a new cylinder block and a type 'N' boiler, while No. 462 was fitted with 'the original type boiler' once again.
In 1950 No. 462 was fitted with an experimental automatic ash ejection system - the visible part being two long chutes descending from the smokebox to near ground level. Apparently this was not a success. The footplate crews, convinced that they were spoiling the draught over the fire, would on occasion block up the chutes deliberately - sugar beets from the train they were pulling being just the right size for the purpose.
In 1950 Great Southern Railways was nationalized and merged with the Irish bus companies to become Córas Iompair Éireann. CIÉ added a 'flying snail' emblem on the tender, removed the number plates and painted the numbers on the cab sides instead.
No. 461 and No. 462 continued working on goods trains until the early 1960s. In 1963 No. 462 was scrapped along with the remaining DSER boiler. No. 461, with the type 'N' boiler (and DSER chimney) finally went out of use in 1965 after a brief career as a stationary boiler.
In 1967 CIÉ announced that - following an appeal from the Irish Railway Record Society - they would preserve three steam engines as static exhibits. GNR(I) No. 131 was to be displayed at Dundalk, GS&WR No. 184 at Inchicore and No. 461 at Waterford. Only No. 131 ever got her plinth, but all three engines eventually made their way to the Whitehead Railroad Museum and into RPSI care.
No. 461 was repainted and displayed at the Inchicore open day in 1968. When she refused to move due to a seized piston, the piston rod was simply cut through with gas. Over the following years she and No. 184 were moved from shed to shed by diesel engines - No. 461's bearings running hot several times due to lack of lubrication.
In 1977 No. 461 and No. 184 were offered to the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland on 'permanent loan' (only becoming officially theirs in 2005, along with No. 131 from CIÉ. Initially they were brought to Mullingar, but many of the parts of No. 461 had been lost or broken like the blast pipe and a severed piston rod.
The facilities at Mullingar were clearly inadequate to restore No. 461, so she was moved to Whitehead by road and was gradually overhauled there.
No. 461 finally returned to traffic in 1990. Initially she was in CIÉ livery, a plain black with a painted number and 'flying snail' on the tender.
Shortly afterwards, replica GSR numberplates were fitted, painted black with red lettering, and the flying snail was painted out. No. 461 ran from 1990 to 2001 all over Ireland.
In 2001 No. 461 was stopped due to the expiry of her boiler certificate. Overhaul work commenced immediately but it was found that she required very heavy rebuilding of the firebox.The overhaul took ten years.
At this time No. 461 is the only DSER locomotive surviving, and the only main line inside cylinder 2-6-0 in Ireland. Currently 461 is out of service but the RSI hopes to get her operational again in time for her 100th birthday.