page_title: Locomotives of the Great Western Railway
section_title: George Jackson Churchward (1902-1922)
hierarchical_section_title: Locomotives of the Great Western Railway / Great Western Railway locomotives / George Jackson Churchward (1902-1922)
caption_attribution_description: Great Western Railway 4-6-0 locomotive on up Cornish riviera express near Acton, London. The original print states that it is 4000 (Star) Class 4038 Queen Berengaria, however it appears to be a 2900 (Saint) Class.
context_page_description: The first Locomotives of the Great Western Railway 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.
  Joseph Armstrong's early death in 1877 meant that the next phase of motive power design was the responsibility of William Dean, his assistant and successor. Dean went on to develop express 4-4-0 types, but the familiar 4-6-0s of later years were initially introduced by the next engineer, George Jackson Churchward. He was also responsible for the introduction of self-propelled Steam Rail Motors for suburban and light branch line passenger trains.
context_section_description: George Jackson Churchward started his railway career in the South Devon Railway locomotive workshops at Newton Abbot. After that company became a part of the GWR in 1876 he was sent to Swindon and worked under Armstrong and Dean. After his appointment as Locomotive Superintendent in 1902 he developed a series of standard locomotive types with flat-topped Belpaire fireboxes, tapered boilers, long smokeboxes, boiler top feeds, long-lap long-travel valve gear, and many standardised parts such as wheels, cylinders and connecting rods.
  For express passenger trains he quickly turned out the City class of 4-4-0s, the first taking to the rails in 1903. The following year one of these, 3717 City of Truro, was reputedly the first locomotive in the world to exceed 100 mph. A larger 4-4-0 was produced in 1904 in the form of the County class, but further increases in size demanded more wheels.
  Experiments had already been made for a 4-6-0 design while Dean was still in charge, and these continued under Churchward; the first 4-6-0, number 100, appeared in 1902 as the initial prototype of what became the Saint class. One locomotive was converted to a 4-4-2 for direct trials against French designs that he tried on the GWR in 1903. These experiments moved the GWR towards using four cylinders and they even tried a 4-6-2, 111 The Great Bear which was the first locomotive of this type in the United Kingdom. Production 4-6-0s appeared in 1905 as the two-cylinder Saint class, and were followed in 1906 by the four-cylinder Star class. A freight version of the Saint, the 2-8-0 2800 class was introduced in 1903. For lighter trains a series of 2-6-0s were turned out in 1911, the 4300 class, which were to become the most numerous GWR tender locomotives. In 1919 this design was enlarged to become the 4700 class 2-8-0s.
  Churchward's standardisation aims meant that a number of tank locomotives were produced that were based on these tender locomotives. The 2221 class of 1905 were a 4-4-2 tank version of the County class, indeed they were known as the "County Tanks". These were then developed into a 2-6-2T design, being produced as the 3100 class in 1903 and the 3150 class three years later. Smaller 2-6-2Ts, the 4400 class were introduced in 1904 and were succeeded by the slightly larger 4500 class in 1906. Two very different freight tank locomotive types appeared in 1910. The 4200 class was a tank version of the 2800 class, but a demand for small locomotives for working on dock and branch lines was met by the 1361 class, a new design based on the old Cornwall Minerals Railway 0-6-0ST design but using as many of Churchward's standard parts as possible.
  Other innovations during Churchward's office included the introduction of self-propelled Steam Rail Motors for suburban and light branch line passenger trains.  From 1915 his post was renamed that of the 'Chief Mechanical Engineer'.  He also remodelled Swindon Works, building the 1.4 acres (0.57 ha) boiler-erecting shops and the first static locomotive-testing plant in the United Kingdom.
  The Great Bear (4-6-2): 111
  1361 Class (0-6-0 ST): 1361–1365
  County Tank Class (4-4-2T): 2221–2250
  2800 Class (2-8-0): 2800–2883
  Saint Class (4-6-0): 2900–2998 (with gaps)
  3100 Class (2-6-2 T): 31xx (later 51xx)
  3150 Class (2-6-2 T): 3150–3190
  City Class (4-4-0): 3700–3719
  County Class (4-4-0): 3800–3839
  Star Class (4-6-0): 4000–4072
  4200 Class (2-8-0 T): 4200–4299, 5200–5204
  4300 Class (2-6-0): 43xx, 53xx, 63xx, 73xx, 93xx
  4400 Class (2-6-2 T): 4400–4410
  4500 Class (2-6-2 T): 4500–4574
  4600 Class (4-4-2 T): 4600
  4700 Class (2-8-0): 4700–4708
  Steam railmotors
caption: A Saint class locomotive
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