| The Great Bear | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 111 The Great Bear in 1908 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Great Bear, number 111, was a locomotive of the Great Western Railway. It was the first 4-6-2 (Pacific) locomotive used on a railway in Great Britain, [2] and the only one of its type built by the GWR.
There are differing views as to why Churchward and the GWR should have built a Pacific locomotive in 1908 when current and future locomotive practice for the railway was centred on the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement. One suggestion is that The Great Bear was built in 1908 to satisfy demands from the directors for the largest locomotive in Britain, and much was made of the locomotive by the GWR's publicity department. However, O. S. Nock was adamant that the design "was entirely due to Churchward, and not to outside influences that pressed the project upon him". [3] Nock regarded the locomotive as "primarily an exercise in boiler design", with Churchward looking forward to a time when his Star Class locomotives could no longer cope with increasing loads. [4] Others have referred to a statement made to the GWR board in 1906 about the GWR-designed 4-4-2 North Star, where Churchward stated that a 4-6-2 would be bigger than required at that time but that such a design was being prepared. The order for The Great Bear was placed in January 1907. [5]
The front-end layout of the class was the same as that for the Star Class except that Churchward fitted 15 in (380 mm) diameter cylinders, the maximum possible without fouling the rear wheels of the front bogie. [6] However, the design of the boiler was entirely new, and with a barrel of 23 ft (7.010 m) in length, [7] which was exceptionally long both by contemporary and later standards. The main reason Churchward adopted the 4-6-2 wheel arrangement was to enable him to fit a wide firebox over the trailing wheels. With a firebox surface of 182 sq ft (16.9 m2), this was a 17.5% increase in size compared to the Star Class. [8] It was also built with a Swindon No. 1 superheater.
With the introduction of Great Western Railway Power Classification in 1920, the power classification was "Special" (denoted by a black "+" on the red route availability disc, [9] ) although the tractive effort of 27,800 lbf (124,000 N) fell within the range for "D".
In service, the performance of The Great Bear proved to be disappointing and not a significant improvement on existing classes. "The excessive tube and barrel length of 23 feet made for bulk rather than efficiency". [10] Also, the axle boxes of the trailing wheels tended to become overheated due to their proximity to the firebox. Churchward attempted to improve the locomotive's performance by adding a Swindon No. 3 Superheater in 1913 and top-feed apparatus. However, the excellent performance of the Star Class and the advent of the First World War brought a stop to further experimentation without significant improvement.
In addition to the disappointing performance, the locomotive had a highly restrictive route availability which limited its usefulness. The 20 long tons 9 cwt (20.8 t) axle load restricted it to the Paddington to Bristol main line, although it was once recorded to have travelled as far west as Newton Abbot. [2] The GWR route availability colour code for The Great Bear was Red. [9]
Although not a technical success, The Great Bear was considered the company's flagship locomotive from its introduction until Churchward's retirement in 1922. [11] With the introduction of 4073 Caerphilly Castle in 1923 with a higher tractive effort, The Great Bear ceased to have any publicity value and became an embarrassment. It was due for heavy repairs in January 1924 and so was withdrawn from service by Churchward's successor Charles Collett. [12] It had run 527,272 miles by this time. Its regular engine driver was Thomas Blackall, originally from Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire.
"The front portion of the original frames and the number plates were used again but probably little else". [10] No. 111 emerged as a 4-6-0 in the Castle Class, given the name Viscount Churchill . Thereafter, the GWR did not use the Pacific wheel arrangement. No. 111 was withdrawn in July 1953 and scrapped later that year. One of the original nameplates is in the Science Museum. [13]
According to Cecil J. Allen, "The Great Bear was one of the very few locomotive types that Swindon has produced, and in particular among the Churchward designs, to which the word 'failure' could be applied." [14] Authorities differ as to Churchward's attitude to his locomotive. According to Le Fleming, "his dislike of 'The Bear' was well known", [15] but Nock said that he had "a deep affection for the engine", although he came to regard it as "a white elephant" rather than a "Great Bear". [16] He was disappointed to hear of The Great Bear's destruction, and, upon hearing of Nigel Gresley's plans to construct a Pacific for the Great Northern Railway, is said to have replied: "What did that young man want to build it for? We could have sold him ours!"
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 4073 or Castle Class are 4-6-0 steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway, built between 1923 and 1950. They were designed by the railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer, Charles Collett, for working the company's express passenger trains. They could reach speeds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h).
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Princess Royal Class is a class of express passenger 4-6-2 steam locomotive designed by William Stanier. Twelve examples were built at Crewe Works, between 1933 and 1935, for use on the West Coast Main Line. Two are preserved.
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.
The Great Western Railway 3252 or Duke Class were 4-4-0 steam locomotives with outside frames and parallel domed boilers. They were built in five batches between 1895 and 1899 for express passenger train work in Devon and Cornwall. William Dean was their designer, possibly with the collaboration of his assistant, George Jackson Churchward. Four prototype 4-4-0s, of the Armstrong Class, had already been built in 1894.
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.
The Great Western Railway 2900 Class or Saint Class, which was built by the Great Western Railway's Swindon Works, incorporated several series of 2-cylinder passenger steam locomotives designed by George Jackson Churchward and built between 1902 and 1913 with differences in the dimensions. The majority of these were built as 4-6-0 locomotives; but thirteen examples were built as 4-4-2. They proved to be a highly successful class which established the design principles for GWR 2-cylinder classes over the next fifty years, and influenced similar classes on other British railways.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 6800 Class or Grange Class was a mixed-traffic class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive, built to replace the GWR 4300 Class 2-6-0. There were 80 in the class, all built at the Swindon works, using some reconditioned parts from withdrawn 4300 Class locomotives.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 6959 or Modified Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. They were a development by Frederick Hawksworth of Charles Collett's earlier Hall Class named after English and Welsh country houses.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 6000 Class or King Class is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotives designed for express passenger work and introduced in 1927. They were the largest locomotives built by the GWR, apart from the unique Pacific. The class was named after kings of the United Kingdom and of England, beginning with the then reigning monarch, King George V, and going back through history. They handled the principal GWR expresses on the main line from London to the West of England and on the Chiltern line to Birmingham and Wolverhampton, until 1962 when the class was withdrawn.
The Great Western Railway 1000 Class or County Class was a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive. Thirty examples were built between 1945 and 1947, but all were withdrawn and scrapped in the early 1960s. A replica locomotive is under construction.
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.
Joseph Armstrong was an English locomotive engineer and the second locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway. His younger brother George and one of his sons also became outstanding engineers in the employment of the GWR.
The GWR 2021 Class was a class of 140 0-6-0ST steam locomotives. They were built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway between 1897 and 1905. 1897 was the very year of George Armstrong's retirement, so it is uncertain if the design should be attributed to him or to his superior at Swindon, William Dean.
La France, number 102, was a locomotive of the Great Western Railway. It was bought by G.J. Churchward to evaluate French locomotive practice, and particularly the effect of compounding.
GWR No. 36 was a prototype 4-6-0 steam locomotive constructed at Swindon Works for the Great Western Railway in 1896, the first 4-6-0 ever built for the GWR and one of the first in Britain. It was designed by William Dean and le Fleming comments that "the design is unusual and entirely Dean of the later period, including the only large boiler ever built entirely to his ideas."
The GWR 101 Class consisted of a single experimental 0-4-0T side-tank steam locomotive. It was built at GWR Swindon Works under the direction of George Jackson Churchward in June 1902.
