Locomotives of the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

Coat-of-arms of the Great Western Railway, incorporating the shields, crests and mottoes of the cities of London (left) and Bristol (right)
History
1835	Act of Incorporation
1838	First train ran
1869–92	7 ft 1⁄4 in (2,140 mm) changed to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
1903	Start of road motor services
1904	City of Truro sets speed record
1948	Nationalised
Constituent companies See full list of constituents of the GWR
1854	Shrewsbury and Birmingham Ry Shrewsbury and Chester Railway
1862	South Wales Railway
1863	West Midland Railway
1876	Bristol and Exeter Railway South Devon Railway
1889	Cornwall Railway
1922	Rhymney Railway Taff Vale Railway Cambrian Railways
1923	Midland & S W Junction Railway
Successor organisation
1948	Western Region of British Railways
Key locations
Headquarters	Paddington station, London
Workshops	Swindon Wolverhampton
Major stations	Birmingham Snow Hill Bristol Temple Meads Cardiff General London Paddington Reading General
Route mileage Mileage shown as at end of year stated.
1841	171 miles (275 km)
1863	1,106 miles (1,780 km)
1876	2,023 miles (3,256 km)
1899	2,504 miles (4,030 km)
1921	2,900 miles (4,700 km)
1924	3,797 miles (6,111 km)

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 (2,140 mm) 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. Next came Charles Collett in 1921; he standardised the many types of locomotives then in service, producing the iconic Castle and Kings. He also introduced diesel power in the form of streamlined rail cars in 1934. The final engineer was Frederick Hawksworth who took control in 1941 and produced GWR-design locomotives until after nationalisation in 1948.