page_title: George Jackson Churchward
section_title: The Great Bear
hierarchical_section_title: George Jackson Churchward / Chief Mechanical Engineer / Notable locomotives / The Great Bear
caption_attribution_description: English: Official picture of the GWR 4-6-2 No.111 The Great Bear in 1908.
context_page_description: George Jackson Churchward CBE was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922.
context_section_description: GWR 111 The Great Bear was the first 4-6-2 (Pacific) locomotive used on a railway in Great Britain, the only one of that type ever built by the GWR, which is today seen as Churchward's notable failure in locomotive design. No clear GWR commercial reason existed for the design, so it is concluded by many as a further Churchward experiment, considered to explore what came beyond the Star Class when train loads increased beyond their capability. Basically a developed Star class locomotive, the larger boiler over trailing wheels allowed a firebox surface of 182 sq ft (16.9 m²), a 17.5% increase in size compared to the Star Class. It was also built with a Swindon No. 1 superheater.
  Due to its weight and 20 long tons 9 cwt (20.8 t) axle load, the locomotive was restricted to the Paddington to Bristol main line, mainly under Paddington driver Thomas Blackall, originally from Aston Tirrold, Oxfordshire. Despite later experimental developments, in service the performance of The Great Bear proved to be disappointing, and not a significant improvement on existing classes. The excellent performance of the Star Class and advent of the First World War brought a stop to further experimentation without significant improvement.
  Although not a technical success, The Great Bear was considered the company's flagship locomotive from its introduction until Churchward's retirement in 1922. With the introduction of 4073 Caerphilly Castle in 1923 with a higher tractive effort, the locomotive ceased to have any publicity value and became an embarrassment. Due for heavy repairs in January 1924, it was withdrawn from service by Churchward's successor Charles Collett. It emerged from Swindon later that year as a 4-6-0 Castle Class, given the name Viscount Churchill.
caption: Great bear
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