The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) Class 52 consisted of twenty 4-4-0 express passenger tender locomotives designed by John Aspinall. Aspinall also built a further fifteen similar but slightly larger locomotives of GS&WR Class 60.[1]: 67–72
The locomotives were built soon after Aspinall took up his post, and were to an extent a derivation of an Alexander McDonnell 2-4-0 design incorporating the same boiler but having a leading bogie.[2]: 148–150
The GSR Class 52 was initially deployed on fast express main-line services, and were almost immediately displayed to more secondary duties by the GS&WR Class 60.[1] The arrival of the GS&WR Class 301 and later more powerful locomotives seen them all displaced to secondary routes. They were even known to work Dublin to Bray suburban services on very rare occasions despite their large diameter wheels being less suitable for fast acceleration.[3]
