Didcot Railway Centre is a railway museum and preservation engineering site in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England. The site was formerly a Great Western Railway engine shed and locomotive stabling point.
Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter Vintage Trains based in Birmingham, England. It occupies part of the former Great Western Railway's Tyseley depot, built in 1908 to accommodate expanding operations in the West Midlands, particularly the opening of the North Warwickshire Line as a new main line from Birmingham to Bristol.
The first Locomotives of the Great Western Railway (GWR) were specified by Isambard Kingdom Brunel but Daniel Gooch was soon appointed as the railway's Locomotive Superintendent. He designed several different 7 ft 1⁄4 in broad gauge types for the growing railway, such as the Firefly and later Iron Duke Class 2-2-2s. In 1864 Gooch was succeeded by Joseph Armstrong who brought his standard gauge experience to the workshops at Swindon. To replace some of the earlier locomotives, he put broad gauge wheels on his standard gauge locomotives and from this time on all locomotives were given numbers, including the broad gauge ones that had previously carried just names.
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.
GWR 4073 "Castle" Class No. 4079 Pendennis Castle is a 4-6-0 steam locomotive built in 1924 for the Great Western Railway (GWR) at Swindon Works to a design of Charles Collett. It was employed on long-distance express passenger trains on the GWR and its successor, British Railways' Western Region.
The Great Western Railway 4900 Class or Hall Class is a class of 4-6-0 mixed-traffic steam locomotives designed by Charles Collett for the Great Western Railway. A total of 259 were built at Swindon Works, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 and 6900–6958. The LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 and LNER Thompson Class B1 both drew heavily on design features of the Hall Class. After nationalisation in 1948, British Railways gave them the power classification 5MT.
The GWR 5700 Class, or 57xx class, is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and British Railways (BR) between 1929 and 1950. With 863 built, they were the most prolific class of the GWR, and one of the most numerous classes of British steam locomotive.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2884 Class is a class of 2-8-0 steam locomotive. They were Collett's development of Churchward's earlier 2800 Class and are sometimes regarded as belonging to that class.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 5205 Class is a class of 2-8-0T steam locomotives.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 2800 Class is a class of Churchward-designed 2-8-0 steam locomotive.
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 1361 Class were small 0-6-0ST steam locomotives built by the Great Western Railway at their Swindon Works, England, mainly for shunting in docks and other sidings where track curvature was too tight for large locomotives.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4300 Class is a class of 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotives, designed by G.J. Churchward for mixed traffic duties. 342 were built from 1911–1932.
7808 Cookham Manor is a Great Western Railway 7800 'Manor' Class steam locomotive. It was built in 1938 at Swindon Works, withdrawn from service in December 1965 and purchased directly from British Railways for preservation by John Mynors, a member of the Great Western Society, in 1965–66. 'Cookham Manor' was the only 'Manor' Class locomotive to have been bought directly from BR. Initially it was stored at Ashchurch, until moving to Didcot in August 1970.
Great Western Railway (GWR) 6000 Class 6023 King Edward II is a preserved steam locomotive.
The GWR 6100 Class is a class of 2-6-2T side tank steam locomotives.
GWR 4073 Class 5029 Nunney Castle is a Great Western Railway Castle Class steam locomotive. It was built at the GWR's Swindon Works in 1934, being outshopped on 28 May and taking the name of Nunney Castle near Frome, Somerset. The locomotive was used in many publicity and "life on the railway" type of photographs. During the first day of the evacuation of civilians during World War II, the locomotive hauled trains carrying children being taken from London to the safety of the countryside. Nunney Castle was also used to haul the Royal Train in October 1957 from London Paddington station to Gloucester.
The GWR 4073 Class 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe is a steam locomotive of the GWR 'Castle' Class, built in March 1936. It was originally named Barbury Castle, and was renamed Earl of Mount Edgcumbe in September 1937. It had a double chimney and 4 row superheater fitted in October 1958.
No.1014 County of Glamorgan is a steam locomotive which is under construction as a "new-build" project, based at Didcot Railway Centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire. Unlike most other new-build projects which are underway and are building new members of lost classes like 2007 Prince of Wales and 2999 Lady of Legend it was decided to build a mock of one of the Great Western Railway 1000 or "County" Class engines, the chosen engine being 1014 The project was launched in 2005 with the creation of the 'Three Counties Agreement' between the Great Western Society (GWS) and the Vale of Glamorgan Council saw three members of the Barry 10, all of the being ex-GWR locomotives, and a 3,500-gallon tender being used to help resurrect extinct GWR locomotives. This meant that a GWR 1000 Class No. 1014 County of Glamorgan, GWR 3800 Class No. 3840 County of Montgomery, a GWR 2221 Class tank engine, and a GWR 4700 Class No. 4709 would be constructed from the parts of GWR 2800 Class No. 2861, GWR 5101 Class No. 4115, GWR 5205 Class No. 5227, GWR 6959 Class No. 7927 Willington Hall and LMS 8F No. 48518.
GWR 2900 "Saint" Class No. 2999 Lady of Legend is a 4-6-0 steam locomotive completed in 2019 to a design by George Jackson Churchward. It was based on the frames and boiler of 4900 "Hall" Class No. 4942 Maindy Hall, and was largely constructed at Didcot Railway Centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, where it is now based. Described as "building the 78th Saint", the project started in the 1970s to look at building a new 'Saint', since none of the original class-members were preserved.
