Always loved the big iconic locos, but these little ones have a particular place in my heart:
When I was at school, Chippenham still had a marshalling yard, with one or two little Pannier Tank locos. A class-mate, Steven Light, was lucky enough to have a dad who drove it, so we’d often be found up the station train-spotting, and if he was up there, we’d get up onto the footplate, and spend a happy hour or two trundling around the station! Brilliant fun, and back then there was a spur that went to the middle of the Western Arches, Brunel’s bridge over the main road, and occasionally we’d sit on the bridge watching people and traffic below.
Was most disappointed when the little tanky was replaced with a diesels shunter. Almost antiseptically clean by comparison.