Churchward & De Glehn 4-4-2 French Compounds

President, number 103, and Alliance, number 104 were locomotives of the Great Western Railway. George Jackson Churchward, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway, was given authority to purchase three French de Glehn-du Bousquet four-cylinder compound locomotives, in order to evaluate the benefits of compounding. The first locomotive, no.102 La France, was delivered in 1903. Two further locomotives, nos. 103 and 104, were purchased in 1905. These were similar to the Paris-Orleans Railway's 3001 class, and slightly larger than 102. As with no. 102, these were built by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques. They had two high-pressure cylinders fitted between the frames, and two low-pressure cylinders outside. The high-pressure cylinders drove the front driving wheels while the low-pressure cylinders drove the rear driving wheels. An external steam pipe was mounted just in front of the dome, looking rather similar in appearance to a top feed. In 1907 No. 104 was fitted with an unsuperheated Swindon No. 1 boiler, President herself being similarly reboilered in February 1910 and receiving a superheated boiler in January 1914. In 1926, the three locomotives were based at Oxford shed. In practice, they did not provide any significant improvement in either performance or economy compared to No 171 Albion, Churchward's prototype 4-6-0, which was converted to a 4-4-2 specifically for comparison with the French locomotives.



103 President


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103 President leaving Paddington
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103 President


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103 President
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railway photographs from the last 100 years




104 ‘Alliance’ one of the French compound 4-4-2 's Fitted with a Swindon no 1 unsuperheated boiler c1907.




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104 Alliance at the end of the parcels Platform Paddington, with the "Great western & Metropolitan" (Hammersmith & City Railway) station sign for Bishops Road station visible through the bridge (Bishops Bridge Road).
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railway photographs from the last 100 years

Neil

 

Many thanks for these photos!
One of very few(?)4-4-2 tender locomotives in the UK. In my view also the most good looking one!
This beauty could be a fresh and interesting input as a new build object , it would give a significant difference to the traditional GWR engines (and maybe also satisfy the compound fans)

Knut

 

Actually, there were plenty of 4-4-2 Atlantics. The GWR even built some themselves (although they were quickly converted to 4-6-0).
There were notable 4-4-2 classes on the Lancashire & Yorkshire, Great Central, North British, London Brighton & South Coast and North Eastern, as well as the excellent Great Northern Atlantics of which two are preserved. A replica LB&SC is fairly complete on the Bluebell railway.
Both the GCR and NER had compound 4-4-2s, on the Smith principle (as on the Midland 4-4-0s), respectively three and four cylinder compounds, both very good.

 

Thanks a lot for your information sir!

regards,
Knut