Churchward 150: 15th and 16th September

The GWR’s September Steam Spectacular

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of possibly the Great Western Railway’s greatest locomotive engineer: George Jackson Churchward. He is credited with introducing standardisation to locomotives designed at the GWR’s Swindon works, including a range of efficient boilers. His visionary ideas strongly influenced locomotive design at Swindon right to the end of steam and his concepts were adopted by many other railways – including Stanier on the LMS and Riddles who designed the last steam locomotives for British Railways

Over the weekend of 15th and 16th September, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is staging an event to celebrate Churchward’s contribution to locomotive development and the evolution of locomotives turned out of Swindon.  Keep visiting these pages over the coming days. If the link doesn’t work, it’s because the information isn’t up yet!

The Working Timetables: Saturday and Sunday
The simplified times only timetables: Saturday and Sunday
Locomotives running during Churchward 150
The life and times of George Jackson Churchward
2807 – being restored at Toddington
Where to stay
Lineside photography, lineside passes and the best places to take pictures
102.3: a film tracing the history of the City class and Truro’s claim to 100mph claim

Locomotive line-up

The line-up includes*:
3440 City of Truro (facing south)
5101 class 2-6-2T no. 4160 ‘large Prairie’ (facing north)
4575 class 2-6-2T no. 5542 ‘small Prairie’ (facing south)
Modified Hall class 4-6-0 no. 7903 Foremarke Hall (facing north)
9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 Black Prince (facing north)

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*subject to availability

City class 4-4-0 no. 3440 City of Truro

The City class traces its ancestry to a series of fine 4-4-0 express locomotive developed by Churchward’s prececessor, William Dean, towards the end of the 19th Century.  Churchward improved the ‘Atbara’ class to produce what was arguably the fastest steam locomotive design in the world. Indeed, no. 3440, which was completed at Swindon in 1904, is credited with becoming the first man-made machine to exceed 100mph, thus ensuring its survival for the nation after the last of its classmates were scrapped at the end of the 1920s. There is an excellent dvd programme about the City class produced by Oakwood Video Library which is available at the Toddington station shop and, during the weekend, from Oakwood who will have a stand at Toddington station. You can read a review of the programme here shortly.  City of Truro is owned by the National Railway Museum.

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5101 class 2-6-2T no. 4160

A member of the Great Western Railway’s very successful ‘5101’ class 2-6-2 tank engines were designed primarily for short distance passenger services where timing was critical – for example, commuter trains.  The prototype was designed by Churchward and completed at Swindon as far back as 1903.  Churchward’s successor, Collett continued to develop the class and the last of them – including no. 4160 – were completed in the late 1940s.  These robust and very attractive engines could be found throughout the Great Western’s system.  Members of this class used to take London expresses such as the famous ‘Cheltenham Spa Express’ from Cheltenham St. James (where Waitrose is now) as far as Gloucester. 4160, which has visited the GWR before, is currently based on the West Somerset Railway.

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4575 class 2-6-2T no. 5542

4575 class 2-6-2T ‘small Prairie’ locomotives, designed for light passenger and goods traffic. Known as ‘small Prairies’ (Prairie is the name given to the 2-6-2 wheel arrangement) because they were smaller than the first GWR tank locomotives to be built with this wheel arrangement, such as 4160 (above). The 4575 class were the latest development of these delightful engines. Designed by G J Churchward, the class was first introduced in 1904 as 4500 class and the final batch – built between 1927 and 1929 – were equipped with outside steam pipes to the cylinders, stronger frames and larger water tanks than their predecessors. Some were equipped to handle auto trains and 5542 is so equipped (although it was not originally fitted with auto gear). An extraordinary number of these useful machines lasted to the end of Western Region steam and 14 small Prairies have survived. No 5542 was built in 1928 and withdrawn in 1961. It was purchased in 1975 and restored at the West Somerset Railway, where has put in many years of sterling service. It is owned by Locomotive 5542 Limited and is currently resident on the GWR.

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Modified Hall class 4-6-0 no. 7903 Foremarke Hall

Designed by the Great Western Railway’s last Chief Mechanical Engineer, F W Hawksworth, no. 7903 was actually completed by British Railways after nationalisation and emerged from Swindon works in 1949. Nevertheless, it traces its origins directly back to Churchward and his two-cylinder Saint class 4-6-0, three different prototypes of which were produced in 1902/3.  The Saint was sleek and modern in appearance, performed well reflected Churchward’s concept of standardisation in design. From this beginning Churchward’s vision was taken on by his successors who produced some of the most successful locomotives ever to run in the UK. No. 7903 Foremarke Hall is a direct descendent of the Saint class. The prototype Hall class was a rebuild by C B Collett of no. 2925 Saint Martin, the principal difference being smaller driving wheels. Numbered 4900, it carried the name Saint Martin until withdrawn in 1959. Hawksworth’s Modified Hall was a natural development of Collet’s Hall class and it proved to be free steaming and efficient, more than capable of handling everything from local freight to express trains.  7903 is owned and was restored over 25 years by the Foremarke Hall Trust and is resident at Toddington.

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9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 Black Prince

One of a series of standard locomotive classes designed by R A Riddles, the 9F was the ultimate British heavy freight locomotive.  The most powerful locomotive design to run in Britain, production continued at both Crewe and Swindon until 1960 when the very last steam locomotive for British Railways, no. 92220 Evening Star, was completed at Swindon – just a few months after 92203, which entered service in 1959. The very first heavy freight locomotive to run in the UK was the 2800 class 2-8-0 designed by Churchward and while the 9F class can hardly be described as a direct descendent of that highly successful freight locomotive, many ideas established by Churchward are evident in the 2-10-0.  For example, Churchward established the principle of standardisation, and the British Railways Standard classes certainly perpetuated that. The boiler, too, has design features that could be found in the boilers developed by Churchward. And, of course, no. 92203 was one of the last to be turned out of Swindon works. Although the 9Fs were designed to last until at least the 1970s, the modernisation plan cut short their lives and withdrawals began when most of the class had put in less than a decade of work. 92203 was bought straight out of British Railways service by David Shepherd and named Black Prince. It is now resident on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

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