Great Western 4-4-0 Locomotives in Great_Britain

Class 13 (Locobase 20790)

Data from "Four-Coupled Bogie Saddle Tank Engine, Great Western Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Volume XXVI [26] (15 November 1920), p. 239-240.

William Dean's double-ended rear-tank engine appeared in 1887. At each end, the wheels on the carrying axles had outside bearings. Apparently the design suffered from shortcomings because it was very soon modified in several key ways. One was the replacment of the rear tank with a saddle tank over the boiler. This allowed the shops to cut the frame back to just behind the trailing driver. (The drivers were not moved either forward or back during the conversion.) The single leading truck was replaced by a bogie truck

The result seems to have been a success. According to LM's 1920 report the 13 worked branch line trains between Swindon and Highworth and between Kemble and Cirencester for "a long time." When in 1909, the GWR took over the Liskeard and Looe line in Cornwall, the 13 moved to that line.

Still in service in 1920, the durable and lucky 13 was based at Plymouth and could "often be seen shunting at North Road station."

Five years later, the 13 returned home to Swindon where it was withdrawn from service in 1926.

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Class 1490 (Locobase 16131)

Data from "Brecon & Merthyr Railway". Locomotive, Volume 17 (15 April 1911), p. 72. See also Robin Jones, Great Western Railway Pannier Tanks (Ramsbury Marlborough, Wiltshire, England: Crowood Press, 2014), Chapter One.

The pannier tank struck a compromise between the saddle tank, which wrapped over the boiler and carried a good supply of water, and the side tank, which stood on the running board and lowered the center of gravity. Jones describes its appearance as "taken from the baggage carried on either side of a donkey or pack mule." Its adoption on the GWR came from that railway's strong preference for Belpaire fireboxes, whose square shoulders did not allow proper mounting of a saddle tank.

The 1490 was not considered a success and, after operating for nine years in local passenger service and as a shunter (switcher), it was sold to the B&M in Wales, where it headed colliers' passenger trains.

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Class Atbara (Locobase 3577)

Data from "The 'Atbara' Class Express Engines, GWR ", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VI [6] (December 1901), p. 195; and "Express Passenger Engines 'Atbara Class', Great Western Railway", Railway Engineer, Volume 22, No 9 (September 1901), pp. 263-267. See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names. Works numbers were 1826-1865.

These were the express versions of the smaller-drivered Bulldogs. Their Belpaire fireboxes looked grafted onto the boiler without any thought of integrating the lines. This entry shows them as they were delivered with the Standard #2 straight boiler. Double plate frames studded with large rivet heads and heavy bogie trucks carrying wheels with outside bearings conveyed solidity rather than sleekness.

At the time, Atbaras counted as "among the most powerful four-coupled express engines in the country". Assignments included the Paddington heavy non-stop expresses to Exeter, Newport, Birmingham, and Worcester hauling a rake of 9-10 bogie vehicles weighing 200-250 tons. Averaging 50 mph (81 kph) or better, the engines faced steady uphill grades over the first 50-70 miles when traveling from those cities to London.

The RE report noted that such journeys were "very trying for the engine, and only possible with boilers which steam freely like those of the Great Western engines." Claimed coal consumption per train mile on the Paddington link was 32.6 lb (9.18 kg/km).

The class received generally good reviews, but ever-increasng train loads soon led the GWR to develop a long series of express Ten-wheelers. In 1902, one of the newly built Atbaras (3400) were converted to the City-class design (see Locobase 2279); another nine (3401-3409) would follow in 1907-1909. By 1904, Churchward began refitting the class with the half-cone or full-cone boiler he favored. In 1909 he introduced superheat and in 1911 boiler top-feed.

They were withdrawn between 1927-1931.

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Class Badminton (Locobase 2264)

Data from Ahrons (1927) and "Express Passenger Engine: Great Western Railway", The Railway Engineer, Volume 19, No. 6 (June 1898), p. 162. See also George Montagu, MP, "Typical Expresses No V: The Great Western", Car: A Journal of Travel by Land, Sea and Air, Volume 1, No 12 (13 August 1902), p. 419. For Waterford, see also "Express Passenger Engine, 'Waterford', Great Western Railway," The Railway Engineer, Volume 20, No 11 (November 1899), pp. 346-348.

Some were produced with Serve water-tube firebox that introduced the Belpaire profile. The Waterford, #3100, delivered in 1899, combined a domeless parallel boiler, a steel Belpaire firebox, and an enlarged cab.

Montagu, writing in 1902, said that over the previous six years, the class had done "excellent work for the last few years, have been principally engaged in working what are known as the West and North expresses, viz., those between Newport, Hereford, and Shrewsbury, and other main line trains in South Wales"

Montagu added that "Their coupled wheels were found to be too large for the heavy gradients on the Cornwall line" so Dean developed the Waterford and Bulldog types.

Most of the Badmintons were later rebuilt with tapered domeless boilers.

Adhesive weight increased to 35 tons 8 cwt (76,296 lb) and loaded engine weight to 56 tons (125,440 lb).

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Class Bird (Locobase 3578)

Data from [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names; and "4-4-0 Express Engines, Great Western Railway", Railway Engineer, Volume 30, No 7 (July 1909), p. 212 (Thanks to Alexander Blessing for his 30 November 2022 email pointing out the account of the original saturated-boiler configuration as delivered in 1909.)

These were Bulldogs (Locobase 3112) with longer smokeboxes to accommodate the superheaters, non-fluted coupling rods, and larger sandboxes. They also had much deeper frames, says Daniel, especially around the trailing axlebox..

Alexander Blessing found that the saturated Number 2 coned boiler held 239 2" tubes offering 1,397 sq ft (129.79 sq m) of heating surface area. When the firebox heating surface area was added, the total came to 1,518 sq ft (141.12 sq m). It wasn't two years, however, before the Birds began receiving superheaters at the sacrifice of 21 of the small tubes. In typical fashion of British locomotive designers of this period, the superheater amounted to very little.

RE's report described the operating challenges that led to their design: "They are intended to work where the gradients are frequent and steep, as, for example, on the West of England section below Exeter."

Retirements occurred between 1948 and 1951.

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Class Bogie (Locobase 10213)

Data from "The BG Locomotives of the Great Western Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VII (February 1902), p. 19.

These two saddle-tanks were the first locomotives on the Broad Gauge to ride on an Eight-wheeler arrangement. The suspension was the classic 3-legged stool first developed by American Joseph Harrison. The boiler's front section had a ball that rested in a socket in the bogie, but the weight bore on two inverted springs that rested on the axleboxes of the wheels. Equalizing levers connected the two driving axles on each side and rested on springs.

The boiler and grate seem to have been adapted from that used in the 0-6-0 of the same period (Locobase 3219). The engines were intended for use on the South Devon Railway but wound up on other parts of the system until they were retired in 1873. At that point, Corsair went to work for Cilely Colliery and Brigand for Edwards and Suter.

The Corsairs were followed by 13 Sappho class in 1854-1855 that had 69" drivers (see Locobase 10222).

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Class Bulldog (Locobase 3112)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names. Data are for the long-cone Standard Boiler 2 as fitted to all by 1912.

A standard engine of the turn of the century, this class saw several variations and modifications. 20 of the class were rebuilds of earlier Duke-class engines. These and twenty newly built locomotives had a curved frame to allow clearance of the coupling rod's crosshead. These had slightly less weight on the drivers -- 69,552 lb (31 tons 1 cwt or 31,548 kg)-- and overall -- 111,888 lb (49 tons 19 cwt or 50,751 kg) , than later engines, which had a slightly higher running plate and were straight (and easier to build).

Retirements began in 1929, but the last engine--Penzance--didn't leave until 1951.

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Class City (Locobase 2279)

See Ahrons (1927) for data. Designed by G.J Churchward (Glover, 1967) or William Dean (Ahrons, 1927). In addition to the ten built as new (works numbers 1993-2002 in March--1993--and May 1903), ten "Atbara"-class locomotives (Locobase 3577) were converted.

Like nearly all Great Western locomotives, these had Belpaire fireboxes, but the Cities introduced the Standard No 4 boiler. So equipped the Cities proved to be very fast

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names; his rebuild list only includes the 10 Atbaras (Locobase 3577).

In the Annual Report published in London by Amalgamated Society of Engineers, 1903, page 12, W Hollick reports triumphantly on the City of Bath's recent record run. It's quoted at length here to commemorate an era in which locomotive performances were celebrated with the same partisan high spirits as were horse-racing achievements.

"RECORD" RUN ON THE G.W. RAILWAY.

BY W. HOLLICK (Swindon Branch).

"THE above and similar headings appeared in all the leading papers on Wednesday, July 15th, and therewith followed an account of the long run made by the G.W. engine, " City of Bath," from Paddington to Plymouth (216 miles), and a short account of the same, with other details will, no doubt, be of interest to our readers.

"The engine and tender weighed "loaded" 100 tons, and the four eight-wheeled bogie coaches and one saloon forming the train weighed 130 tons. Start was made from Paddington at 10-40 a.m., and in the first hour 67 3/4 miles were run, which is a world's record, and that to the farthest point to which true " express speed" was possible, viz., Exeter, an inclusive speed of 67 miles an hour was maintained. Beyond this* express speed was not possible, awkward curves, and some literally Alpine grades occurring below Exeter ; two banks of upward slopes of 1 in 43 were both climbed of an average speed of 36 miles an hour, and on the last stretch the pace was mostly kept down to 60 miles an hour. The whole distance to Plymouth was done without a stop at an average speed of 63 miles an hour, a record which I venture to think will require some beating. A few facts and figures, no doubt, will be interesting. The " City " class engines are supplied with a special design boiler, the principal feature being the large fire box.

"This definitely breaks both the East and West Coast records in the Aberdeen race of 1895, with a heavier train. It is also a true record, as the gravitation gave little or no help. The first 18 + miles were covered in even time ; after Slough the speed rose to over 70 miles an hour, at Goring 75 miles an hour ; the first 100 miles were reeled off in 86 + minutes - a speed of over 69 miles an hour from the start. Speed was reduced considerably passing through Bath and Bristol, but in spite of this 135 miles were covered in the first two hours. Exeter was reached in 2 hours 52 + minutes from the start, the total distance being 193 5/8 miles. This makes the recent South- Western run of 3 hours from Waterloo to the same city with 23 miles less to go look small."

See City- superheated for further comments.

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Class City - superheated (Locobase 3579)

Data from Glover (1967) and John Daniel's Great Western Archive

The engine had a The first ten were converted Atbara (Locobase 3577) express 4-4-0s and featured their double frame and four bearings for the driving axle, "a good feature in high-powered, inside-cylinder locomotives."

Noting that the boiler coned from 58 1/2" at the smokebox to 69" at the Belpaire firebox, thus providing the most space at the point where it would most effectively generate steam, Glover observes that the 69" firebox width "was unequalled during this period in the productions of any other designer as far as express engines were concerned." The shallow firebox had a relatively modest amount heating surface.

See

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Class Class 7 (Locobase 2263)

See Ahrons (1927) for data.

The only standard gauge engines on the GWR with coupled drivers as tall as 7 feet. "These engines were over-cylindered and never appeared capable of the good work done [by the succeeding class]."

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Class County - superheated (Locobase 3580)

Data from "3800 'County' class introduction", Great Western Archive at [], originally accessed 2000,last accessed for the County class after being fitted with a Standard Boiler #4 and superheated.

John Daniel of the Archive commented that these were known as "Churchward's rough riders", in part it seems, as "Sir William Stanier noted that "Churchward was not going to be instructed by Webb, the Locomotive Superintendent of the LNWR, and designed an engine that had plenty of power to run the service but which had a front end too powerful for the wheelbase".

The class lingered into the 1920s and early 1930s with the County of Somerset the last to be withdrawn in 1933.

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Class County/38xx (Locobase 2280)

Data from Ahrons (1927); "New Type of Outside-Cylinder Express Locomotive for the Great Western", Practical Engineer:, Volume 30, No 913 (26 August 1904), p. 242; Charles Lake, Locomotives of 1907 (London: Percival Marshall & Co, 1907), presented on [], last accessed 31 January 2009; and A T Taylor, Modern British Locomotives (London: E & FN Spon, Ltd, 1907), p. 17.

Designed by G.J Churchward as an expansion of the Cities design of the year before (Locobase 2279) and retained the tapered boiler and Belpaire firebox. This engine, however, had inside frames and outside cylinders. Lake commented on the long stroke of this class: "The added length of stroke permits of a reduction in the cylinder diameter, and the expansion of steam is carried out under somewhat different conditions. The long stroke assists the engine at starting, but must necessarily be something of a disadvantage when travelling at the highest speeds, owing to the great piston velocity set up."

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names. Daniel says these were known as "Churchward's rough riders", in part it seems because the frame was overpowered by the cylinders.

Steamindex repeats an amusing and revealing comment by Sir William Stanier about this class: "Churchward had built that engine with his tongue in his cheek. He knew that the front end was too powerful for the wheel base. This engine was built for working trains on the Shrewsbury and Herford line, which was a joint line with the L. & N.W., and the L. & N.W. objected at that time to the 4-6-0 "Saint" class working over it. He was not going to be told what to do by Webb! Therefore Churchward built the "County", which had plenty of power to run the service." (Cited in Stanier, W.A. [discussion on] Cook, K.J. The late G.J. Churchward's locomotive development on the Great Western Railway. J. Instn Loco. Engrs, 1950, 40, 131-71. Disc.: 171-210. (Paper No.492))

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Class Duke (Locobase 2262)

Data from "Express Passenger Engines, 'Duke of Cornwall' Class: Great Western Railway", Railway Engineer, Volume 18, No 10 (October 1897), pp. 291-295. See also George Augustus Nokes, The evolution of the steam locomotive (1803 to 1898), (New York: The Railway Publishing Company, 1899), pp. 299-300. See also John Reohorn, "Flowers and the City", Backtrack (January 2008), pp. 15-18.

Like most Great Western designs, these William Dean engines ran to a different type from other British 4-4-0s of the time. The engines had an outside frame for both the drivers and the front bogie. Inside frames ran from the front buffer beam to the firebox providing two more bearing points for each driving axle, notes Glover (1967), "a valuable feature in large 4-4-0 engines with inside cylinders, which restricted the dimensions of inside bearings." The crank on each driver was outside and coupled.

Four (3328-3331) had a Belpaire firebox raised above the barrel line which provided, to quote Glover's charming phrase, "very ample steam space in the area of maximum ebulllition." In addition, the firebox contributed about 8% to total heating surface area.

Their primary service was hauling passenger trains between Newton-Abbot (north of Torquay in Devon) and Penzance (in far-western Cornwall). On these runs, RE noted, the locomotives would haul one more eighy-wheeled carriage than the trains that had worked the service before the Dukes. However, some worked fast goods between Paddington and Exeter as well as linking Swindon and Weymouth. Reflecting the practice of assigning specific drivers to specific engines,

RE noted that the Devon and Cornwall trains averaged 33.6 lb/mile (9.46 kg/km) among 12 "men" [Locobase takes that to refer to 12 drivers and their firemen.]. This relatively high average, said RE, was "due to their work being heavier." The lowest consumption came to 30.1 lb (8.48 kg/km), the highest reached 38.5 lb/mile (10.85 kg/km). Paddington-Exeter goods trains averaged 31 lb/mile (8.73 kg/km) among 5 men, while Swindon-Weymouth trains posted the lowest average at 29.7 lb/mile (8.37 kg/km).

Reohorn quotes Hamilton Ellis's description of the Dukes' appearance as "Olde English" and adds that even contemporay observers preferred the "clean elegance" of Dugald Drummond or the simple austerity of F W Webb. But, he continues:

"Handsome is as handsome does ...The evidence suggests that they were efficient and respected machines, used with effect throughout the GWR system."

Nokes reports that this class was often called "Devonshire" or "Pendennis Castle", after engines in the first batch, which included:

3252 Duke of Cornwall ,3253 Pendennis Castle, 3254 Boscawen, 3255 Cornubia. 3256 Excalibur, 3256 Excalibur, 3257 Guinevere, 3258 King Arthur.3259 Lizard, 3260 Merlin, and 3261 Mount Edgcombe. This batch had slightly smaller fireboxes than the one shown in Locobase's specs with grate areas comprising 19 sq ft (1.77 sq m) and heating surface areas amounting to 112.6 sq ft (10.46 sq m).

He adds: "These proved so satisfactory in performing the peculiar duties required from passenger engines on the West of England main line of the Great Western Railway that a second batch of thirty was put in hand. These commenced running in the early months of 1898. They were named and numbered as follow

3262 Powderham. 3272 Aniyas. 3282 Maristowe.

3263 Sir Lancelot. 3273 Armurel. 3283 Mounts Bay.

3264 St. Anthony. 3274 Cornishman. 3284 Newquay.

3265 St. Germans. 3275 Chough. 3285 St. Erth.

3266 St. Iv. s. 3276 Dutmoor. 3286 St Just.

3267 St. Michael. 3277 Earl of Devon. 3287 St, Agnes.

8268 Tamar. 3278 Ertdystone. 3288 Tresco.

8269 Tlntagel. 8279 Exmoor. 3289 Trefusis.

3270 Trevithick 3280 Falmouth. 3290 Torba.

3271 Tre Pol and Pen. 3281 Fowey. 3291 Tregenna.

An American Engineer and Railroad Journal (AERJ) article in April 1896 provided some of the data in the entry. The anonymous author notes that the choice of relatively small drivers were attributable to the heavy grades of the line, which was also notable for "curves both sharp and numerous."

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Class Dukedog/Earl (Locobase 3581)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names.

The Earls were engines that combined boilers from Duke-class locomotives that were leaving service with the frames of Bulldog engines -- thus the alternate name of "Dukedog." They were later fitted with the small superheater shown in the specifications.

After World War II, their small grates proved a liability when the railroads were forced to use lower-quality coal and the Dukedogs were gradually retired between 1948-1960.

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Class Dukedog/Earl Cawdor (Locobase 10412)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names. The Earls were engines that combined boilers from Duke-class locomotives that were leaving service with the frames of Bulldog engines -- thus the alternate name of "Dukedog."

This particular Bulldog was rebuilt with a large-diameter boiler designed by Wilson Worsdell.

See Locobase 3581 for the superheated Dukedogs with 68" drivers.

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Class Flower (Locobase 3582)

See [] (Information by John Daniel, 2000) for details on this class, including all names.

These are very similar to the Bird class but have the taller drivers of classes like the Atbaras. They were assigned to local services in the Bristol and Swindon districts. Although delivered without superheaters, all the Flowers received them beginning in 1910.

Retirements began in 1927 and had been completed by 1931.

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Class Sappho (Locobase 10222)

Data from "The BG Locomotives of the Great Western Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VII (May 1902), p. 90. Works numbers were 875-887 produced from June 1854 to March 1855.

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Class Waterford (Locobase 20575)

Data from ""Express Passenger Engines 'Waterford', Great Western Railway", Railway Engineer, Volume 20, No 10 (October 1899), pp. 263-267; and John Reohorn, "Flowers and the City", Backtrack (January 2008), pp. 15-18.

Locobase 2264 describes the Badminton class of which this locomotive was the 20th member, but as John Reohorn notes, this was a substantially different and more powerful design. Most noticeable is William Dean's full exploitation of the GWR's loading gauge, which the Waterford "only just clear[ed]". So big a boiler couldn't use a dome, the whistle lay horizontally on the Belpaire firebox, and the safety valves were relocated from the firebox top to the boiler barrel.

Waterford was a one-off, but its boiler design led to the widely used Standard No 2.

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Class Waverly (Locobase 678)

Data from Ahrons (1927) and "The BG Locomotives of the Great Western Ry", The Locomotive Magazine, Vol VII (August 1902), p. 124. Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Designed by Daniel Gooch of Great Western and built at the Swindon Shops and by Robert Stephenson & Company. Similar to the earlier Iron Duke class in adhering to a 7-foot gauge standard, but adopted two driven axles to gain power in the hillier sections. Lalla Rookh was another engine in this class, which were all named after characters found in the novels of Sir Walter Scott. Most of them accumulated more than half a million miles in service before being scrapped in 1872 (2) and 1876 (8).

Ahrons (1927) concludes: "It cannot be said that these engines were a success for express work, though they proved fairly useful for excursion and other heavy passenger service."

The author of the long-running Locomotive Magazine series on the GWR's Broad Gauage locomotives attributes the class's eclipse to "...the fact that the increase in weight of the 8-ft single engines as they were rebuilt gave them a sufficient increase in adhesive power to enable them to deal with heavier traffic, while the superiority of the single engine in freedom and economy rendered the more efficient class."