If you register, you can do a lot more. And become an active part of our growing community. You'll have access to hidden forums, and enjoy the ability of replying and starting conversations.

Churchward loco designs of the GWR

Discussion in 'Photography' started by neildimmer, Jan 2, 2023.

  1. neildimmer

    neildimmer Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2008
    Messages:
    9,097
    Likes Received:
    1,129
    Churchward tender locomotives of the GWR.

    De Glehn Compound 4-4-2 locomotives 103 President & 104 Alliance

    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 low-pressure cylinders fitted between the frames, and two high-pressure cylinders outside. The low-pressure cylinders drove the front driving wheels while the high-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
    https://tinyurl.com/4aazzt2t

    104 Alliance Old Oak Common shed
    https://tinyurl.com/2p6ccm8z

    Neil
     
    neildimmer, Jan 2, 2023
    #1
  2. neildimmer

    neildimmer Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2008
    Messages:
    9,097
    Likes Received:
    1,129
    Churchward tender locomotives of the GWR. 111 The Great Bear
    The Great Bear, number 111, was a locomotive of the Great Western Railway. It was the first 4-6-2 (Pacific) locomotive used on a railway in Great Britain, and the only one of its type built by the GWR.
    111 The Great Bear Old Oak Common shed
    https://tinyurl.com/3yy4jhdf

    Neil
     
    neildimmer, Jan 2, 2023
    #2
  3. neildimmer

    neildimmer Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2008
    Messages:
    9,097
    Likes Received:
    1,129
    I have added a new collection of photos featuring Churchward’s 4200 class 2-8-0T

    After the GWR took over operations and then absorbed the various South Wales based railways from the late 1800s, operational practice on most was defined by moving heavy coal trains on sharp, steep and undulating tracks. Thus many of these railways - especially the dominant Taff Vale Railway - specified and used an 0-6-2T, which gave maximum tractive effort whilst riding well on the undulating track.
    With coal trains increasing in size and scale, the GWR needed to develop a more powerful locomotive to meet these requirements, on what were relatively short haul routes. Thus in 1906, Chief Engineer George Jackson Churchward took the basic design of his GWR 2800 Class, and adapted it. After proposing a 2-8-2T design, Churchward developed the UK's first 2-8-0 tank engine, through concerns that the longer frames required for a 2-8-2T would restrict operation in the South Wales Valleys.
    Churchward upgraded the power of the design, modifying the frames to hold a GWR standard No.4 boiler over the 2800 Class standard No. 1. The flanges of the second and third driving wheels were made thinner, and the coupling rods between the third and fourth sets of driving wheels used spherical joints, all to create side play and hence flexibility in operations. The prototype No. 4201 was out shipped from Swindon Works in 1910 under Lot No. 142, with a straight back bunker capable of containing three tonnes of coal. In 14 months of testing, it easily proved itself capable of negotiating curves down to 2 chains (130 ft; 40 m) in radius.
    Put into production in 1912 under Lot No. 187, the first locomotives were Nos. 4202 to 4221, which had both top feed boilers and curved upper bodies to their coal bunkers to provide 3.5 tonnes of coal carrying capacity. Working heavy coal trains of over 1,000 tons through the South Wales Valleys, from coal mines to ports, the large boilers and restricted loading gauge resulted in narrow side tanks. Although passing numerous water stops along their routes, because of the class's heavy water consumption and limited tank capacity, they were nicknamed "Water Carts". 105 4200s were built between 1910 and 1923.
    In 1919, from Lot No. 213 (4262 to 4285) onwards, the coal bunker was built six inches taller, increasing coal capacity to 4 tons. In 1921, having also run out of allocation numbers, the class received its first major upgrade. Increasing cylinder diameter from 18.5 inches (470 mm) to 19 inches (480 mm) increased tractive effort to 33,170 pounds, thus creating the distinctive later GWR 5205 Class.
    The last batch of the 5205 Class produced pre-World War II were lot No. 266 of 1930, producing numbers 5275 to 5294. However, due to the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and a resultant down turn in coal exports to Europe, a number of the 4200 Class having been returned to Swindon for overhaul, had in fact been stored there. To increase their operational ability across the wider GWR network, Chief Engineer Charles Collett took the board-agreed decision to alter this batch in production to 2-8-2T by adding a bolt-on 4 feet (1.22 m) extension to the frames to accommodate a pair of rear trailing wheels, which took the coal capacity up to 6 tons and water tanks to 2500 gallons. This created the GWR 7200 Class 2-8-2T. Due to demands from the Operational Department for more of the 7200 Class, from the stored 4200 Class locomotives at Swindon, fourteen were rebuilt between 1937 and 1939 as 7200 Class locomotives. Although operationally banned from certain goods yards, most 7200's found work across the GWR system, mostly deployed on iron ore and stone trains from Banbury.
    In later years many of the remaining 4200s were upgraded to 5205 specification with outside steam pipes, larger cylinders and in some cases curved frames at the front end
    All but one, No. 4224, passed in the ownership of British Railways on Nationalisation. The first engine withdrawn was number 4224 in February 1959 and by the end of steam on the former GWR system, 18 were still working at the start of 1965, the last withdrawn being No. 4268 in August 1965.
    Info from Wikipedia

    Including this photo of
    4283 and a unknown loco double head a coal train at a unknown location, probably S.Wales
    https://tinyurl.com/4aptd9dp

    full collection of 14 photos starts here with
    4201 Newport
    https://tinyurl.com/2tfzcp92
    to
    5201 Westbury
    https://tinyurl.com/2meb4wp9

    Neil
     
    neildimmer, Apr 9, 2023
    #3
  4. neildimmer

    neildimmer Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2008
    Messages:
    9,097
    Likes Received:
    1,129
    neildimmer, May 16, 2023
    #4
  5. neildimmer

    neildimmer Resident of Nat Pres

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2008
    Messages:
    9,097
    Likes Received:
    1,129
    neildimmer, Jun 26, 2023
    #5

Share This Page