Railway - 'Castle' class locomotive Chepstow Castle -BBC Hulton Library postcard

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  ""Castle"" Class 4-6-0 No 4077 Chepstow Castle at Chepstow station July 1926 - the then new Chepstow racecourse was nearing completion
• Publisher:  BBC Hulton Picture Library
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
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• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Below is a list of all 171 GWR Castle Class engines, built between August 1923 and August 1950.

...

The GWR 4073 Class or Castle class locomotives are a group of 171 4-6-0 steam locomotives of the Great Western Railway.^[1] They were originally designed by the railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer, Charles Collett, for working the company's express passenger trains

The origins of this highly successful design date back to the Star Class of 1907 which introduced the basic 4-cylinder 4-6-0 layout with long-travel valves and Belpaire firebox that was to become synonymous with the GWR. The Star class were built to take the top express trains on the GWR with 61 in service by 1914, but after World War 1 there was a need for an improved design of express locomotive, and to meet this need Chief Mechanical Engineer GJ Churchward had in mind an enlarged Star class design with a standard No.7 boiler.^[2] However, the combination would have taken the axle load of such a design over the 20 ton limit set by the civil engineers, and in the end nothing came of the idea.

C.B. Collett succeeded Churchward as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the GWR in 1922 and immediately set about meeting the needs for a new locomotive design that would both supplement the Stars and replace them on the heaviest expresses. Collett's solution was to take the basic layout of the Star and add the larger but lighter No.8 boiler, the increased amount of steam that this produced allowing an increase in the cylinder diameter from 15"" to 16"". Along with an increased grate area, the result was an increase in tractive effort to 31,625 lb, and a locomotive that looked attractive and well proportioned while remaining within the 20 ton axle limit.

The first 10 locomotives were built in 1923, and numbered 4073 - 4082; the number series continuing unbroken from the Star class. The last 12 Star class locomotives, which were built in 1922-23, had been given names of Abbeys in the western area served by the GWR, and the new locomotives were named after castles also in the west.

When introduced they were heralded as Britain’s most powerful express passenger locomotive, being some 10% more powerful than the Stars. The first, No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle, made its debut at Paddington station on 23 August 1923. The choice of 4082 as Windsor Castle proved fortuitous as this locomotive was used to haul the royal train when King George V and Queen Mary visited Swindon Works in 1924, and much publicity was gained when the king was permitted to drive the engine back from the works to the station before the return journey, with the Queen and several high-ranking GWR officers also on the footplate.^[3]

During 1924 4073 Caerphilly Castle was exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, alongside Sir Nigel Gresley’s Flying Scotsman. The Great Western declared their engine to be more powerful than its bigger LNER rival, and in terms of tractive effort alone they were entitled to do so. As a result of this GWR General Manager Sir Felix Pole proposed to LNER Southern Area General Manager Alexander Wilson that a trial of the two types should take place via an exchange arrangement.^[4] The resulting trials commenced in April 1925 with 4079 Pendennis Castle representing the GWR on the Great Northern main line and 4474 Victor Wild representing the LNER on Great Western tracks. On the first morning Pendennis Castle was to work a 480 ton train from King's Cross to Doncaster, and LNER officials fully expected the smaller, lighter engine to encounter problems climbing Holloway Bank. However railway writer Cecil J. Allen records that the GWR locomotive made a faster start from King's Cross to Finsbury Park than any LNER pacific he had recorded up to that time^[4] and over the trial Pendennis Castle kept well within the scheduled time and used less coal, considerably denting LNER pride. For the LNER Victor Wild was compared on the Cornish Riviera Express to 4074 Caldicot Castle and although it kept to time the longer wheelbase of the pacific proved unsuited to the many curves on the Route. Again the GWR took the honours with Caldicot Castle burning less fuel and always ahead of time, this being illustrated on the last 2 days of the trial by gaining 15 minutes on the schedule in both directions.^[4]

In 1926, number 5000 Launceston Castle was loaned to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway where it ran trials between London and Carlisle. The locomotive fulfilled the LMS requirements so well that the latter first requested the GWR to build a batch of Castles for use on the West Coast Main Line, and, failing that, a full set of construction drawings. Both proposals were rejected by the GWR Board of Directors. The LMS eventually succeeded in gaining access to the design by recruiting William Stanier, the GWR's Works Manager at their main Swindon railway works to become the new Chief Mechanical Engineer for the LMS.^[5]

So successful was the Castles' design that construction continued at intervals until 1950, by which time 171 had been built. This included 15 converted from the Star class, plus the rebuilding of The Great Bear, the Great Western’s only Pacific locomotive.

In 1946 Frederick Hawksworth, Collett’s successor, introduced a higher degree of superheat to the Castle boiler with resulting increased economy in water consumption. From 1956 the fitting of double chimneys to selected engines, combined with larger superheaters, further enhanced their capacity for sustained high-speed performance. In 1958 No. 7018 Drysllwyn Castle, fitted with a double chimney and a four-row superheater, hauled ‘The Bristolian’ express at 100 mph at Little Somerford.

type=printed

period=post-war (1945 - present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100mm)

county/ country=united kingdom