GWR 1000 Class

GWR 1000 “County” class

1026 'County of Salop' at Shrewsbury railway station 1957
Type and origin
Power type Steam
Designer Frederick Hawksworth
Builder GWR Swindon Works
Order number Lots 354, 358
Build date August 1945 – April 1947
Total produced 30
Specifications
Configuration 4-6-0
UIC classification 2'C h2
Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading wheel
diameter		 3 ft 0 in (914 mm)
Driver diameter 6 ft 3 in (1,905 mm)
Minimum curve 8 chains (530 ft; 160 m) normal, 7 chains (460 ft; 140 m) slow
Length 63 ft 0 1⁄4 in (19.21 m)
Width 8 ft 11 1⁄8 in (2.72 m)
Height 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m)
Axle load 19 long tons 14 cwt (44,100 lb or 20 t) full
Weight on drivers 59 long tons 2 cwt (132,400 lb or 60 t) full
Locomotive weight 76 long tons 17 cwt (172,100 lb or 78.1 t) full
Tender weight 49 long tons 0 cwt (109,800 lb or 49.8 t) full
Fuel type Coal
Fuel capacity 7 long tons 0 cwt (15,700 lb or 7.1 t)
Water capacity 4,000 imp gal (18,000 l; 4,800 US gal)
Boiler GWR type 15
Boiler pressure 280 psi (1.93 MPa) later reduced to 250 psi (1.72 MPa)
Firegrate area 28.84 sq ft (2.679 m2)
Heating surface:
– Tubes and flues		 1,545.0 sq ft (143.54 m2)
– Firebox 169.0 sq ft (15.70 m2)
Superheater area 254.0 sq ft (23.60 m2)
Cylinders Two, outside
Cylinder size 18.5 in × 30 in (470 mm × 762 mm)
Valve gear Stephenson
Valve type Piston valves
Performance figures
Tractive effort 32,580 lbf (144.92 kN)
Career
Operator(s) Great Western Railway
British Railways
Class GWR: 1000
Power class GWR: D
BR: 6MT
Number(s) 1000–1029
Axle load class GWR: Red
Retired September 1962 – November 1964
Disposition All scrapped

The 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 Thirty were built between 1945 and 1947, but all were withdrawn and scrapped in the early 1960s.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 in an attempt to reduce maintenance costs). 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 development that used the tooling for 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

1011 'County of Chester' at Bristol Temple Meads 1963

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.

1019 County of Merioneth at Bristol Temple Meads, 1960

British Railways

After the nationalisation of Britain's railways in 1948 all 30 Counties continued to do useful work throughout the Western Region of British Railways, working with Castles on expresses to and from Paddington as well as more menial freight and parcels tasks. BR gave the Counties 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.

Stock list

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:

Number Name     Built        Withdrawn    Scrapped Notes
1000County of Middlesex August 1945 July 1964 Cashmore, Newport
1001County of Buckingham September 1945 May 1963 Cashmore, Newport
1002County of Berks September 1945 September 1963 Ward, Sheffield
1003County of Wilts October 1945 October 1962 Cashmore, Newport
1004County of Somerset October 1945 September 1962 Cashmore, Newport
1005County of Devon November 1945 June 1963 Cashmore, Newport
1006County of Cornwall November 1945 September 1963 Cooper, Sharpness Chimney donated to replica 1014 County of Glamorgan project[1]
1007County of Brecknock December 1945 October 1962 King, Norwich
1008County of Cardigan December 1945 October 1963 Cashmore, Newport
1009County of Carmarthen December 1945 February 1963 Swindon Works
1010County of Caernarvon January 1946 July 1964 Cashmore, Newport Name originally spelled
County of Carnarvon
1011County of Chester January 1946 November 1964 Cashmore, Newport
1012County of Denbigh February 1946 April 1964 Cashmore, Newport
1013County of Dorset February 1946 July 1964 Cashmore, Newport
1014County of Glamorgan February 1946 April 1964 Cashmore, Newport Replica under construction
1015County of Gloucester March 1946 December 1962 Cashmore, Newport
1016County of Hants[2] March 1946 September 1963 Ward, Sheffield
1017County of Hereford March 1946 December 1962 Ward, Sheffield
1018County of Leicester March 1946 September 1962 King, Norwich
1019County of Merioneth April 1946 February 1963 Cashmore, Great Bridge
1020County of Monmouth December 1946 February 1964 Hayes, Bridgend
1021County of Montgomery December 1946 November 1963 Hayes, Bridgend
1022County of Northampton December 1946 October 1962 Ward, Sheffield
1023County of Oxford January 1947 March 1963 Swindon Works
1024County of Pembroke January 1947 April 1964 Swindon Works
1025County of Radnor January 1947 February 1963 Cashmore, Great Bridge
1026County of Salop January 1947 September 1962 Ward, Sheffield
1027County of Stafford March 1947 October 1963 Cooper, Sharpness
1028County of Warwick March 1947 December 1963 Birds, Risca
1029County of Worcester April 1947 December 1962 Cashmore, Newport

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 is based around the frames from Modified Hall Class 7927 Willington Hall and the boiler from LMS Stanier 8F 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 1006 County of Cornwall.

Models

Hornby Railways manufacture a model of the 10xx in OO gauge.

References

  1. ↑ "Locomotive - Initial Progress (2005)" (PDF). 1014 The G.W. County Project. 2005. p. 1. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  2. ↑ le Fleming 1960, p. H38.
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