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La France, number 102, was a locomotive of the Great Western Railway. It was bought by George Jackson Churchward to evaluate French locomotive practice, and particularly the effect of compounding. [3]
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La France, number 102, was a locomotive of the Great Western Railway. It was bought by George Jackson Churchward to evaluate French locomotive practice, and particularly the effect of compounding. [3]
On succeeding William Dean as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR), G. J. Churchward planned the introduction of a series of locomotives designed to tackle the South Devon Banks. Churchward looked at the best practice from both Europe and America, and was impressed by the performance of the de Glehn compounds running on the Nord railway in France. A single locomotive, built specifically for the GWR by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques on the de Glehn principles was delivered in October 1903. This locomotive was numbered 102 and named La France although the makers plates had to be moved from the cabside to the front splasher to allow the number to be fitted in the usual GWR position. [4]
La France was visibly not a GWR engine, although fitted with a Swindon chimney and paired with a standard tender, as immediately recognisable from firebox and the cab. Initially the locomotive was painted black, looking more LNWR than GWR, but it was repainted in 1905 into the standard GWR green livery. [4] La France had two low pressure cylinders fitted between the frames, and two high pressure cylinders outside. The low pressure cylinders drove the front driving wheels while the high pressure cylinders drove the rear driving wheels. [2] Also notable was the external steam pipe mounted just in front of the dome, and looking rather similar in appearance to a top feed.
La France was put to work on important expresses in order to fully evaluate it in operation, and worked turn and turn about with GWR 4-4-0 express locos such as the City class and Atbara class. No.102 hauled the inaugural down Cornish Riviera Express from Paddington on 1 July 1904, this becoming a regular turn which required a non-stop run to Plymouth. [5] In 1913 a top feed and new steam pipes were fitted, and then in 1916 the boiler was replaced by a GWR standard No.1 boiler. In 1926, along with two other French locomotives 103 President and 104 Alliance, 102 was based at Oxford shed. [6] La France was withdrawn in October 1926 having achieved 728,031 miles. [4]
In practice, La France did not provide any significant improvement in either performance or economy compared to No 171 Albion, Churchward's prototype 4-6-0 which was converted to a 4-4-2 specifically for comparison with the French locomotive. Some other benefits were found, however, particularly a much smoother ride and also a reduction in the loads on the rods and axleboxes due to the drive being split between the two driving axles. [3] Despite being remembered for not changing Churchward's views about using a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement for his locomotives, and failing to demonstrate the claimed significant benefits of compounding, La France did leave a lasting legacy on British steam locomotive design. Churchward adopted the de Glehn bogie design for his locomotives, and its success endured with its use by William Stanier on the LMS and subsequently by Robert Riddles on the BR standard designs. It also found its way onto Southern Railway locomotives. [7]
The Great Western Railway 4000 or Star were a class of 4-cylinder 4-6-0 passenger steam locomotives designed by George Jackson Churchward for the Great Western Railway (GWR) in 1906 and introduced from early 1907. The prototype was built as a 4-4-2 Atlantic. They proved to be a successful design which handled the heaviest long-distance express trains, reaching top speeds of 90 mph (145 km/h), and established the design principles for GWR 4-cylinder classes over the next twenty-five years.
The Great Western Railway 3700 Class, or City Class, locomotives were a series of twenty 4-4-0 steam locomotives, designed for hauling express passenger trains.
George Jackson Churchward was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922.
The GWR 4100 Class was a class of steam locomotives in the Great Western Railway (GWR) of the United Kingdom.
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The Bulldog and Bird classes were double-framed inside cylinder 4-4-0 steam locomotives used for passenger services on the Great Western Railway. The Bird Class were a development of the Bulldogs with strengthened outside frames, of which a total of fifteen were built. A total of 121 Bulldogs were built new, with a further twenty rebuilt from Duke Class locomotives. Thirty Bulldogs were later rebuilt as Earl Class locomotives and renumbered 3265, 3200-3228.
The Great Western Railway 3800 Class, also known as the County Class, were a class of 4-4-0 steam locomotives for express passenger train work introduced in 1904 in a batch of ten. Two more batches followed in 1906 and 1912 with minor differences. They were designed by George Jackson Churchward, who used standard components to produce a four-coupled version of his Saint Class 4-6-0s.
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The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4200 Class is a class of 2-8-0T steam locomotives.
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The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2221 Class or County Tank was a class of 4-4-2T steam locomotive, effectively a tank engine version of the 3800 "County" Class 4-4-0 tender locomotives. The two classes had different boilers, standard no 4 for the tender locomotive, and the smaller standard no 2 for the tank. 2230 was fitted with the larger boiler when new, but this was unsuccessful and was quickly altered.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4575 Class is a class of 2-6-2T British steam locomotives.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 3150 Class was a class of 2-6-2T side tank steam locomotive.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4700 Class was a class of nine 2-8-0 steam locomotives, designed by George Jackson Churchward. They were introduced in 1919 for heavy mixed-traffic work. Although primarily designed for fast freight, the class also sometimes hauled passenger trains, notably heavy holiday expresses in the summer months. They were unofficially nicknamed "Night Owls" because they were primarily designed to haul goods during the night and they could be seen simmering in the daylight, awaiting their nocturnal duties.
The Dean Single, 3031 Class, or Achilles Class was a type of steam locomotive built by the British Great Western Railway between 1891 and 1899. They were designed by William Dean for passenger work. The first 30 members of the class were built as 2-2-2s of the 3001 Class.
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The Great Western Railway (GWR) GWR 5100 Class was a class of 2-6-2T side tank steam locomotives. It was the first of a series of broadly similar classes used principally for suburban passenger services.
President, number 103, and Alliance, number 104 were locomotives of the Great Western Railway. George Jackson Churchward, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway, was given authority to purchase three French de Glehn-du Bousquet four-cylinder compound locomotives, in order to evaluate the benefits of compounding. The first locomotive, no.102 La France, was delivered in 1903. Two further locomotives, nos. 103 and 104, were purchased in 1905. These were similar to the Paris-Orleans Railway's 3001 class, and slightly larger than 102. As with no. 102, these were built by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques. They had two low-pressure cylinders fitted between the frames, and two high-pressure cylinders outside. The low-pressure cylinders drove the front driving wheels while the high-pressure cylinders drove the rear driving wheels. An external steam pipe was mounted just in front of the dome, looking rather similar in appearance to a top feed. In 1907 No. 104 was fitted with an unsuperheated Swindon No. 1 boiler, President herself being similarly reboilered in February 1910 and receiving a superheated boiler in January 1914. In 1926, the three locomotives were based at Oxford shed. In practice, they did not provide any significant improvement in either performance or economy compared to No 171 Albion, Churchward's prototype 4-6-0, which was converted to a 4-4-2 specifically for comparison with the French locomotives.