GWR 3200 Class

The Great Western Railway 3200 Class (or 'Earl' Class) was a design of 4-4-0 steam locomotive for passenger train work. The nickname for this class was Dukedog since the locomotives were composed of former Duke Class boilers on Bulldog Class frames. As such they were one of the last steam locomotive classes to retain outside frames.

Background

The GWR absorbed the Cambrian Railways in 1923, but with the Cambrian main line being lightly built, permanent way restrictions debarred the use of heavier locomotives, meaning that only a few classes of GWR locomotive were allowed to run over it.^[1] The result was the extension of the life of the Duke class locomotives, which had been built from 1895 at Swindon Works for express work in Cornwall. However, by the 1930s many of the Duke class were becoming uneconomical to repair, particularly with regard to the curved outside frames, which were weaker than the later straight-topped version.^[2]

Construction

In December 1929, Duke No.3265 Tre Pol and Pen was withdrawn, and the cylinders and motion, together with a spare Duke boiler and smokebox, were fitted to the straight-topped frames and cab of Bulldog no. 3365 Charles Grey Mott. The rebuilt locomotive retained the name and number of the Duke. The reduction in axle weight, as compared to the Bulldogs, allowed for working over the Cambrian section.^[1]

From 1936 a further twenty-nine of the Dukes were withdrawn and replaced by Bulldogs fitted with Duke boilers and motion, reclassified as GWR 3200 "Earl" Class locomotives.^[3] The onset of World War II brought a halt to the program, the last replacement being in November 1939, leaving ten Dukes to pass into British Railways ownership. These were scrapped between June 1949 and July 1951, the last survivor being No. 9089, formerly no. 3289 St Austell of July 1899.^[4]

Naming

The first prototype conversion retained its Duke number and name (3265 Tre Pol and Pen), but the others took new numbers in the 32xx series (3200-3228). The conversions were to have carried the original Duke Class names, but a decision was taken to name the class after living Earls who had some connection with the GWR.

Apparently, as a riposte to repeated requests from aristocratic GWR directors for engines to be named after them, the CME of Great Western, Charles Collett decided that these hotch-potch engines, with their decidedly old-fashioned Victorian appearance, should be given the names of those directors. When the directors assembled at Paddington Station for the unveiling of the "new" class, the group were not impressed at Collett's joke.^[5]

Hence, the first batch of twenty were allocated names, but, following the construction and naming of no. 3212 Earl of Eldon in May 1937, the nameplates were removed and the names given to nos. 5043-5062 of the express Castle class instead.^[6] All these locomotives were renumbered 90xx in 1946 upon delivery of new 2251 Class engines.

Operations

Mainly allocated to the Cambrian main line, it remained one of the few classes of locomotive that British Rail inherited (others were the GWR 2251 Class and the LMS Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0), that was light enough to be permitted on the wooden Barmouth Bridge. As a result, they remained in regular use until the 1950s.^[7]

Preservation

GWR 9017 in early British Railways livery, departing from Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Line, 18 October 2009

One locomotive, No. 9017 Earl of Berkeley, survives in preservation at the Bluebell Railway. It is currently on static display at Sheffield Park shed, awaiting overhaul after being withdrawn with boiler failures in June 2011 just 2 years before the expiry of her boiler ticket in 2013

Numbering

NB: In the table below, names in parentheses were allocated but never actually carried in GWR/BR service.

References

Bibliography

External links

• Great Western Archive
• Earl of Berkeley Bluebell Railway loco page