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Frederick Hawksworth
Frederick William Hawksworth (10 February 1884 – 13 July 1976), was the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway (Great Britain) (GWR). Early career Hawksworth spent his entire career at the Swindon Works of the GWR. He joined the company as an apprentice in 1898, aged 15, becoming an apprentice draughtsman in 1905 under George Jackson Churchward. Hawksworth was one of Churchward's "Bright Young Men", and was involved in his revolutionary designs including the general arrangement drawings for "The Great Bear". Following Churchward's retirement in December 1921, Hawksworth was appointed Chief Draughtsman to his successor Charles Collett where he co-ordinated the work on the King Class. In 1932 he was appointed Assistant, to the Chief Mechanical Engineer, following the departure of William Stanier to the London Midland and Scottish Railway. Soon afterwards he became Principal Assistant. However, having been at the forefront of steam locomotive developm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swindon Works
Swindon railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. History In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of the Great Western Main Line between Paddington railway station, London and Bristol Temple Meads railway station, Bristol by the Great Western Railway (GWR). Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. From 1836, Brunel had been buying locomotives from various makers for the new railway. Brunel's general specifications gave the locomotive makers a free hand in design, although subject to certain constraints such as piston speed and axle load, resulting in a diverse range of locomotives of mixed quality. In 1837, Brunel recruited Daniel Gooch and gave him the job of rectifying the heavy repair burden of the GWR's mixed bag of purchased locomotives. It became clear that the GWR needed a central repair works so, in 1840 Gooch identified a sit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
4-6-0
A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the absence of trailing wheels. In the mid-19th century, this wheel arrangement became the second-most-popular configuration for new steam locomotives in the United States, where this type is commonly referred to as a ten-wheeler.White, John H., Jr. (1968). ''A history of the American locomotive; its development: 1830-1880''. New York, NY: Dover Publications. p. 57. As locomotives pulling trains of lightweight all-wood passenger cars from the 1890 to the 1920s, they were exceptionally stable at near speeds on the New York Central's New York-to-Chicago Water Level Route and on the Reading Railroad's line from Camden to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Overview Tender locomotives During the second half of the nineteenth and first half of the twenti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GWR 2021 Class
The GWR 2021 Class was a class of 140 steam locomotives. They were built at the Wolverhampton railway works of the Great Western Railway between 1897 and 1905. 1897 was the very year of George Armstrong's retirement, so it is uncertain if the design should be attributed to him or to his superior at Swindon, William Dean. In fact the 2021s were simple enlargements of the Armstrong-designed 850 class of 1874. The changes were fundamentally confined to a longer wheelbase to permit fitting of a larger firebox. History The class was built in eight batches: * 2021-2030 (Lot D3, 1897) * 2031-2040 (Lot F3, 1897–8) * 2041-2060 (Lot G3, 1898–9) * 2061-2080 (Lot H3, 1899–1900) * 2081-2100 (Lot J3, 1900–01) * 2101-2120 (Lot K3, 1902–3) * 2121-2140 (Lot L3, 1903–4) * 2141-2160 (Lot M3, 1904–5) Rebuilding with Belpaire fireboxes commenced in the early years of the Churchward era. Unsuccessful attempts to form a saddle tank around the firebox directly led to the switch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GWR 1600 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 1600 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive designed for light branch lines, short-distance freight transfers and shunting duties. History The class was based on the 2021 class designed by Dean and built from 1897 onwards. The 2021 class was in its turn an enlargement of the 850 class designed by Armstrong in 1874. Construction and operations The 1600 Class was a pure GWR design but all 70 were built by the Western Region of British Railways. When the last member of the class was built in 1955, the basic design was over 80 years old; No. 1669 was the last one built, and in turn was the last GWR-design locomotive constructed at Swindon Works. BR gave the 1600 class the power classification 2F. Two locomotives (1646 and 1649) were transferred to the Scottish Region in 1957 and 1958 to operate the Dornoch Light Railway. The class's service life was short; withdrawals started in 1959 and all were gone by 1966, with 1659 having th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walschaerts
The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgium, Belgian railway mechanical engineering, engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844. The gear is sometimes named without the final "s", since it was incorrectly patented under that name. It was extensively used in steam locomotives from the late 19th century until the end of the steam era. History The Walschaerts valve gear was slow to gain popularity. The Stephenson valve gear remained the most commonly used valve gear on 19th-century locomotives. However, the Walschaerts valve gear had the advantage that it could be mounted entirely on the outside of the locomotives, leaving the space between the locomotive frame, frames clear and allowing easy access for service and adjustment, which resulted in it being adopted in some articulated locomotives. The first locomotive fitted with the Walschaerts valve gear was built at the Belgian Tubize worksh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GWR 1500 Class
The Great Western Railway (GWR) 1500 Class is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive. Despite being a GWR Hawksworth design, all ten (nos 1500–1509) were completed under the administration of the Western Region of British Railways in 1949, just after Nationalisation. Overview Coming from a railway company with a well-developed standardisation policy, the 15xx was a strange design finale. Unlike almost all their forebears, they had outside cylinders, Walschaerts valve gear, and a very short wheelbase of to go round curves of . Above footplate level they were very similar to the 9400 class, and shared the same Standard no.10 boiler. The major difference was below the (very small) footplate, where they resembled the USATC S100 Class that the GWR and other railways had used during the Second World War. Although a sound design, the class had limited usefulness as they were route-restricted by their high weight and were unsuitable for fast running because of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Railways
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British railway companies, and was privatised in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board. The period of nationalisation saw sweeping changes in the railway. A process of dieselisation and electrification took place, and by 1968 steam locomotives had been entirely replaced by diesel and electric traction, except for the Vale of Rheidol Railway (a narrow-gauge tourist line). Passengers replaced freight as the main source of business, and one-third of the network was closed by the Beeching cuts of the 1960s in an effort to reduce rail subsidies. On privatis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GWR 5700 Class
The GWR 5700 Class, or 57xx class, is a class of 0-6-0 pannier tank steam locomotive, built by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and British Railways (BR) between 1929 and 1950. With 863 built, they were the most prolific class of the GWR, and one of the most numerous classes of British steam locomotive. Although officially designated by GWR as "light goods and shunting engines", they were also used for passenger working on branch, suburban, and shorter mainline journeys. They were distributed across most of the GWR network and, after nationalisation of the railways in 1948, across the Western Region of British Railways, and also other regions. The 5700s were not as large as the GWR Castles and Kings, but became just as much of an icon of the GWR due to their iconic design and quantity. As a result of the 1955 Modernisation Plan, the 5700 Class was withdrawn from BR service between 1956 and 1966. Nineteen withdrawn locomotives were sold to London Transport and industry, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taper Boiler
A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases is transferred through the walls of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating the water and ultimately creating steam. The fire-tube boiler developed as the third of the four major historical types of boilers: low-pressure tank or "haystack" boilers, flued boilers with one or two large flues, fire-tube boilers with many small tubes, and high-pressure water-tube boilers. Their advantage over flued boilers with a single large flue is that the many small tubes offer far greater heating surface area for the same overall boiler volume. The general construction is as a tank of water penetrated by tubes that carry the hot flue gases from the fire. The tank is usually cylindrical for the most part—being the strongest practical shape for a pressurized container—and this cylindrical tank may be either horizontal or verti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GWR 3800 Class
The Great Western Railway 3800 Class, also known as the County Class, were a class of 4-4-0 steam locomotives for express passenger train work introduced in 1904 in a batch of ten. Two more batches followed in 1906 and 1912 with minor differences. They were designed by George Jackson Churchward, who used standard components to produce a four-coupled version of his Saint Class 4-6-0s. Construction The first locomotive, No. 3473 ''County of Middlesex'', was built at Swindon Works in May 1904, with the following nine completed by October 1904. They were initially fitted with parallel-sided copper-capped chimneys, which were soon replaced by tapered cast iron chimneys. The second batch, of twenty, were built between October and December 1906. This batch had tapered cast iron chimneys from the start. A third and last batch of ten were built between December 1911 and February 1912. On these the footplates had curved drop ends at the cab and front bufferbeam. They were also fitted fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries. The major participants in the war threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and deploying the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in human history; it resulted in 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LMS Stanier Class 8F
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 8F is a class of steam locomotives designed for hauling heavy freight. 852 were built between 1935 and 1946 (not all to LMS order), as a freight version of William Stanier's successful Black Five, and the class saw extensive service overseas during and after the Second World War. Background LMS freight traction suffered from the adoption of the Midland Railway's small engine policy which had left it with trains double-headed by underpowered 0-6-0s supplemented by disappointing Garratts and Fowler 7F 0-8-0s. The 8F design incorporated the two-cylinder arrangement of the Black Fives. They were initially classified 7F, but this was later changed to the more familiar 8F. On the outbreak of the World War II, the design was chosen to become the country's standard freight design, reprising the role the GCR Class 8K had in the First World War. The War Department had 208 8Fs built by Beyer Peacock and North British Loc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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