GWR 1000 Class

Infobox Locomotive
name=GWR 1000 “County” class
powertype=Steam


caption=1009 "County of Carmarthen" at Bristol Temple Meads, 1960.
designer=Frederick Hawksworth
builder=GWR Swindon Works
totalproduction=30
ordernumber=Lots 354, 358
builddate=August 1945 – April 1947
retiredate=September 1962 – November 1964
gauge=RailGauge|ussg|lk=on
whytetype=4-6-0
uicclass=2'Ch2
railroad=Great Western Railway
British Railways
length=convert|63|ft|0+1/4|in|m|2|abbr=on
width=convert|8|ft|11+1/8|in|m|2|abbr=on
height=convert|13|ft|5|in|m|2|abbr=on
leadingsize=convert|3|ft|0|in|mm|0|abbr=on
driversize=convert|6|ft|3|in|mm|0|abbr=on
axleload=convert|19.70|LT|lk=on
GWR class “Red”
weight=convert|76.85|LT
tenderweight=convert|49|LT
boiler=GWR type 15
firearea=convert|28.84|sqft|m2|abbr=on
fireboxarea=convert|169.0|sqft|m2|abbr=on
superheaterarea=convert|254.0|sqft|m2|abbr=on
tubesandflues=convert|1545.0|sqft|m2|abbr=on
valvegear=Stephenson
cylindercount=Two, outside
cylindersize=convert|18+1/2|x|30|in|mm|0|abbr=on
boilerpressure=convert|280|psi|MPa|2|abbr=on|lk=on later reduced to convert|250|psi|MPa|2|abbr=on
tractiveeffort=convert|32580|lb|kN|2|abbr=on
fueltype=Coal
fuelc
convert|7.0|LT
waterc
convert|4000|impgal|abbr=on|sigfig=2|lk=on
railroadclass=GWR: 1000 (power class D)disposition=All scrapped
roadnumber=1000–1029The Great Western Railway 1000 Class or County Class was a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. Thirty were built between 1945 and 1947, but all were withdrawn and scrapped in the early 1960s. A replica locomotive is under construction.

Overview

These locomotives were the result of a development project by the Chief Mechanical Engineer Frederick W. Hawksworth. He was working on a design for a new 4-6-2 (Pacific) express locomotive for the Great Western, and the County Class was a testbed for a number of the ideas he wanted to incorporate into the Pacific. There was talk of them at one point having outside Walschaerts valve gear which would have been a major break from traditional GWR designs. In the event the favoured inside Stephenson link motion of the GWR was used, but the GWR 1500 Class, also designed by Hawksworth, used outside Walschaerts – the only locomotive designed by the GWR to do so.

Mechanical details

Innovations included double chimneys on certain members (the only GWR class ever to have double chimneys fitted by the GWR) and a high boiler pressure of 280psi (though this was later lowered to reduce maintenance costs and for fear of the increased pressure causing damage to the track through hammer blow). Modified double chimneys were fitted to all the class from 1956. They also pulled Hawksworth slab-sided tenders, as fitted to some of his modified Halls and retro-fitted to many earlier designs; however the County tenders had a water tank six inches wider than the tenders built for the Halls and earlier designs.

The running gear of the County was almost exactly the same as Hawksworth's earlier Modified Hall Class. The boiler however was a slightly modified version of the LMS Stanier Class 8F boiler, Hawksworth being able to study this design closely when 8Fs were being built at Swindon as part of the war effort.

Operation

The Counties were a successful, free steaming design, well suited to express or freight work and a fitting finale to GW two-cylinder 4-6-0 development. Unfortunately in the immediate post-war period when the Government-run Railway Executive controlled Britain's railways Hawksworth was not allowed to build his Pacific, as there was no need for further express passenger locomotives. Hawksworth was forever bitter about this, as in the darkest days of World War II the Executive had given the Southern Railway permission to build its Merchant Navy Class Pacific as Oliver Bulleid, the designer, had claimed that they were to be for mixed traffic work.

British Railways

After the formation of British Railways in 1948 the 30-strong class of Counties continued to do useful work throughout the Western Region territory, working with Castles on expresses to and from Paddington as well as more menial freight and parcels tasks. BR gave them the power classification 6MT.

Identification

Although not as popular as Castles or Kings amongst GW enthusiasts, they were very easy to identify because of their unique full-length splasher over the wheels (rather than having a separate splasher for each wheel). These were a feature unique to the Counties. Hawksworth no doubt got the idea from the streamlining experiments on a Castle and a King in the 1930s which carried similar splashers.

Names

The locomotives were given names from an extinct class of 4-4-0 tender locomotive that were part of George Jackson Churchward's locomotive standardisation programme in the early days of the 20th century:

All the counties in this list were served, though in some cases indirectly, by the GWR.

Preservation

None of the original locomotives survived. However a replica is being built at the Didcot Railway Centre, home of the Great Western Society. When completed it will take the name and number of No. 1014 "County of Glamorgan" in recognition of the late Dai Woodham's Barry Scrapyard in Glamorganshire from which many withdrawn steam locomotives were saved for preservation. Also Glamorganshire County Council donated the frames and boiler for the project. The replica will have the frames from Hall Class No.7927 "Willington Hall" and the boiler from LMS Stanier 8F No. 48518. The boiler from the Hall will be used in the replica Grange project at the Llangollen Railway. It will also have a number of smaller original parts off scrapped County locomotives including the chimney from No.1006 "County of Cornwall".

External links

* http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_cty.htm
* http://www.hmilburn.easynet.co.uk/enthuse/steam/locos/gwr/1000.htm
* [http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/great_western_society/DidcotRailwayCentre-County1014.shtml Details of County to be built at Didcot Railway Centre]