GWR 3441 "Bird" Class

Not to be confused with the GWR 3300 "Bulldog" Class of which the Birds derive from.
The Great Western Railway 3441 Class were 4-4-0 tender steam locomotives.
== History ==
The GWR 3441 class was the last variation of the GWR 3300 "Bulldog" class by William Dean and were nicknamed the Bird class and were designed George Jackson Churchward. They had much deeper frames with harder trailing axle-boxes, but keeping the same diameter of driving wheels but new a type of bogie (trailing wheels) based upon a French design by Alfred de Glehn.http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_440_bird.htmhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_3300_Classhttps://www.national-preservation.com/threads/dean-3300-bulldog-bird-class.1196699/https://www.brdatabase.info/locoqry.php?action=class&id=144006&type=S&page=mainhttps://www.steamlocomotive.com/locobase.php?country=Great_Britain&wheel=4-4-0&railroad=gw#3582
They also had the later none-fluted side rods and larger sandboxes. Screw reverse was fitted to the class, being the first class since the Duke class to use said fittings. The boilers of the class were the long taper long cone GWR Standard No. 2 unlike the Bulldogs which had Standard No. 3s. They weren't originally superheated but were built with longer smokeboxes together with common copper-caped chimneys.
The Bird class began to be superheated from 1911 onwards. All other technical aspects were identical to the Bulldog class. All of the Bird class were built new at Swindon Works in 1909 to 1910 and were all renumbered in 1912.
Withdrawals started in April 1948 and the last two of the class were withdrawn on the 7th of November in 1951 still carrying their GWR number while in British Railways service. The locomotives mainly served on both Great Western mainline and other major lines throughout the Midlands, Cotswolds and Wales pulling commuter passenger trains.
== Preservation ==
The first of the class to be withdrawn in 1948 was No.3452 'Penguin' and the last two to be withdrawn were No.3453 'Seagull' and No.3454 'Skylark' in 1951 with none of the total fifteen locomotives being preserved. No new build projects are in the process as of mid-November in 2022.
== List of Locomotives ==
Class list of locomotives of the 3441 "Bird" class.
Image:	Name: 	No.	Built: 	Builder: 	b/n No.	Status:
- 	Blackbird 	3441
(Formerly No.3731)	April, 1909 	Swindon Works	2350 	Scrapped, 1949
- 	Bullfinch 	3442
(Formerly No.3732)	April, 1909 	Swindon Works	2351 	Scrapped, 1948
- 	Chaffinch 	3443
(Formerly No.3733)	April, 1909 	Swindon Works	2352 	Scrapped, c.1949
- 	Cormorant 	3444
(Formerly No.3734)	April, 1909 	Swindon Works	2353 	Scrapped, 1951
- 	Flamingo 	3445
(Formerly No.3735)	April, 1909 	Swindon Works	2354 	Scrapped, 1948
- 	Goldfinch 	3446
(Formerly No.3736)	November, 1909	Swindon Works	2355 	Scrapped, c.1948
- 	Jackdaw 	3447
(Formerly No.3737)	December, 1909	Swindon Works	2356 	Scrapped, 1951
- 	Kingfisher 	3448
(Formerly No.3738)	December, 1909	Swindon Works	2357 	Scrapped, 1949
- 	Nightingale	3449
(Formerly No.3739)	December, 1909	Swindon Works	2358 	Scrapped, 1951
- 	Peacock 	3450
(Formerly No.3740)	December, 1909	Swindon Works	2359 	Scrapped, c.1949
- 	Pelican 	3451
(Formerly No.3741)	January, 1910 	Swindon Works	2360 	Scrapped, 1951
- 	Penguin 	3452
(Formerly No.3742)	January, 1910 	Swindon Works	2361 	Scrapped, 1948
- 	Seagull 	3453
(Formerly No.3743)	January, 1910 	Swindon Works	2362 	Scrapped, 1951
- 	Skylark 	3454
(Formerly No.3744)	January, 1910 	Swindon Works	2363 	Scrapped, 1951
- 	Starling 	3455
(Formerly No.3745)	January, 1910 	Swindon Works	2364 	Scrapped, 1950
== Bibliography ==
Category:United Kingdom
Category:Great Western Railway locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:4-4-0 steam locomotives
Category:4-4-0 locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:Built in 1909
Category:Built in 1910
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Category:Four-coupled locomotives
Category:Swindon Works locomotives
Category:British Railways
Category:William Dean locomotives
Category:George Jackson Churchward locomotives
Category:GWR 3441 "Bird" Class locomotives
Category:Passenger locomotives