Heritagerailway.co.uk 89
DesignedbyHenryIvattandbuiltin1 902,GreatNorthernRailway C1 4-4-2
No.251 isse enondi spla yatBarrow HillRoundhouse.BRIANSHARPESouthEastern&ChathamRailwayCclass0-6-0No.592,designedby Harry
Wainwright andbuiltin1 902,inactionat SheffieldParkontheBluebellRailway
onMay11, 1983.BRIANSHARPEdesignin ganextremely su ccessful superheater,
whichwould go onto becomestandardonthe
LNER after1923, buthewas slow to fititto
hisolder designs.Northoftheborder
WilliamPaton Reidwas born in Glasgowin
1854 andappre nticed to theNorth British
Railway’s(NBR) Cowlairsrailway works
in 1879.After beingassis tant locomotive
superintendent to MatthewHolmes, he was
promoted to locomotivesuperintendentin
1903 to succee dHolmes.
Reidmodernisedand rebuiltexisting
engines andintroducedsuperheat ingtothe
NBR, but introduced severalnew classes,
particularly 0-6-0sand theScott an dGlen
4-4-0s. He is bestrememberedfor onedesign,
whichwas hislargest andmostpowerful,
theClass HNorth BritishAtlantic. The
NBRneedednewlocomotivesand theboard
approvedthe constructionof14heavy express
passengerlocomotivesin1905. Thedesigns
were drawnupbychief draughtsmanWalter
Chalmers,but theNBR hadsomeverytight
curves andanAtlanticdesignwas felt to be
moresuitable than a4-6-0.
The14locomotiveswereconstructed and
in 1906 andalthough they were builtquickly,
thecompany advertisedits newtimetables
before theengines were ready. Thechief civil
engineerfelttheyweretoo heavyand would
damage thetrack andtheyweretoo bigfor
theNBR’s turntables. However, they settled
down to give good serviceand established
themselves as themostpowerful passenger
locomotivesonthe NBRnetwork. Eightmore
were builtlater.
John McIntosh hadtakenoveraschief
mechanical engineeronthe Caledonian
Railway(CR)in1895 andhequickly turned
therailway’s motive powersituation on its
head with theintroductionofthe massive
Dunalast air4-4-0s.
McIntosh went on to develop sixdifferent
classes of 4-6-0 for theCR. In 1903, the
railwayhad no passenger locomotives
larger than 4-4-0s,and theheaviesttrains
overits main linebetween Glasgowand
Carlisle still requ ired double-heading,
despitethe introduction oftheDunalastairs.
McIntosh designed alarge 4-6-0based on
theDunalastair andtwo locomotiveswere
builtin1903, whichimmediatelybecame
theCaledonian’sflagshiplocomotives, ev en
though theirperformances didnot live
up to expectations–it wassoonclear that
bankingassis tancewas still requ ired over
Beattock.Also, unti l1906, theCRhad no
turn tables long enough for the49class.The
large49and 903classes,with6ft 6indriving
wheels, wereforexpresspassengertraffic;
theintermediate908 and179 classes ,with
5ft9in drivingwheelswerefor mixedtraffic;
andthe small5ft-wheeled 55 and918 classes
were for theObanlineand express goods
trafficrespectively.
By 1906,experiencewiththe 49 Class
enabledMcIntosh to design an improv ed
versionand theinstallation of newturntables
at majorenginesheds presaged thearrival
of five newlocomotives. Thefirst of these,
No.903,was namedCardeanafterthe
countryestateofone o fthe CR directors, and
it immediatelybecamethe company’snew
flagship locomotive,withits name becominga
nickname for thewhole class.The Caledonian
gave thenew locomotivesagreatdealof
publicitybut even so,the performanceofthe
903s wasstill unremarkable.
Noneofthe 4-6-0swas equipped with
superheating when built, but allseven
locomotiveswererebuilt withSchmidt
superheatersand newcylinders during
1911.These modificationsreduced coal
cons umptionbut made little difference to
thelocomotives’performance. McIntosh did
not buildany morelargepassenger4-6-0s,
although he didconstruct smaller4-6-0s
for goodstraffic.Healsointroduced a2-6-0
in 1912,which wasarebuild ofthe30class
0-6-0,the 600class 0-8-0in1901and 492
class 0-8-0T in 1903.GreatWestern
WilliamDeanhad beenincharg eatSwindon
since1877. He had produced hisstandardised
Dean goods0-6-0andsomeelegant 4-2-2s for
expressservice andwas hi ghly regarded in the
industry.
He also designed the2600Aberdare
2-6-0,built between1900and 1907.These
locomotiveswereafreight versionofthe
3300 and4120classes, andweredesignedfor
haulingcoaltrainsbetween Aberdare and
Swindon. Dean wasill during hisfinal yearsas
chieflocomotive engineer,and he increa singly
allowedhis assistant, Churchward,totakeon
theday-t o-dayresponsibilities.George Jackso nChurchwardwas born in
1857 in Devon, wherehis ancestorshad been
squiressince 1457,and he waseducatedat
Totnes GrammarSchool. He apprenticedin
theNewtonAbbot worksofthe SouthDevon
Railway(SDR).After theSDR becamepartof
theGWR in 1876,under Joseph Armstrong
on theGWR at Swindon, Churchward rose
from draughtsmanthrough severalposition s,
andin1897hewas appointed chiefassis tant
to WilliamDean. In 1900 he becamethe first
mayorofSwindon,but he nevermarried.
Churchward took overfromDeanin1902
andthe stagewas set for himtobecome
possibly themostinfluential locomotive
engineer in thehistory of Britishsteam
locomotivedevelopment.
In September 1902,while working as Dean’s
assistant, Churchward had one ofDean’s
Atbara 4 -4-0sre-boileredwithaBelpaire
fireboxand thefirst useofataperedboile ron
theGWR.Thisexperimentled to thedesign
of theCityclass.
No.3440City of Tr urowasone ofthelater
ones, builtatSwindon in 1903. It is regarded
as thefirst Britishlocomotive to reach
100mph,but it sactual maximumspeedhas
beenthe subjectofmuchdebateoverthe
years. It did, however, ensure it splace as the
only standard gaugesteam locomotive to be
preservedbythe GWR.
Initiallyreluctant to admittorunning at
such ahighspeed,the GWRallowed only
theoverall timings for therun to be printed.
TherenumberedNo. 3717was with drawn
in March1931, by whichtimeits historical
significance wasacceptedand theGWR’s
then-CME,Charles Collett, requ estedthe
engine be preserved at theLNER’srailway
museum at York,after theGWR directors
refusedtopreservethe engineatthe
company’sexpense.
City of Tr urohassince had threeseparate
periodsasaworking engineinpreservatio n,
butnow look slikelytoremainastaticexhibit.
Churchward preferredlocomotiveswithout
trai lingwheelstomaximise adhesion onthe
SouthDevon banksonthe West of England“The introduction of superheatingwas th elastbut probably the
single most importantdevelopment forthe steamlocomotive.
Superheatingincreasesthe poweroutputof alocomotive by
up to 25%, withequivale nt savingsinc oaland water, over
non-superheatedengines.Its widespreaduse from 1910
coinci dedwiththe needsfromthe railwayoperators for heavier
trainstobehauledathigher speeds.”