GWR 2900 Class 2999 Lady of Legend
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GWR 2900 "Saint" Class No. 2999 ''Lady of Legend'' is a
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 abse ...
steam locomotive completed in 2019 to a design by
George Jackson Churchward George Jackson Churchward (31 January 1857 – 19 December 1933) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922. Early life Churchward was born at ...
. It was based on the frames and boiler of 4900 "Hall" Class No. 4942 ''Maindy Hall'', and was largely constructed at
Didcot Railway Centre Didcot Railway Centre is a railway museum and preservation engineering site in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England. The site was formerly a Great Western Railway engine shed and locomotive stabling point. Background The founders and commercial backers ...
in
Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Di ...
,
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, where it is now based. Described as "building the 78th Saint", the project started in the 1970s to look at building a new 'Saint', since none of the original class-members were preserved.


Maindy Hall

No. 4942 ''Maindy Hall'' was a
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 abse ...
locomotive of the GWR's 4900 ''Hall'' class. It was built in 1929 at
Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
. After being withdrawn from service in 1963, it was moved to
Woodham Brothers Woodham Brothers Ltd is a trading business, based mainly around activities and premises located within Barry Docks, in Barry, Wales, Barry, South Wales. It is noted globally for its 1960s activity as a scrapyard (hence its colloquial name of Bar ...
scrapyard in
Barry, Vale of Glamorgan Barry ( cy, Y Barri; ) is a town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, on the north coast of the Bristol Channel approximately south-southwest of Cardiff. Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the resurrected Bar ...
,
South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...
, in 1964 and was bought by the
Didcot Railway Centre Didcot Railway Centre is a railway museum and preservation engineering site in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England. The site was formerly a Great Western Railway engine shed and locomotive stabling point. Background The founders and commercial backers ...
in 1974, who also bought 5900 ''Hinderton Hall''.


The Saint project

Following the formation of the society in the 1970s a plan was formed to build a new 2900 ''Saint'', since none of the original class members were preserved (the last class member being no 2920 ''Saint David'' which was withdrawn from service in October 1953 and was sent straight for scrap). It was decided to rebuild 4942 ''Maindy Hall'' from scrapyard condition (there being another ten members of the 4900 ''Hall'' class in preservation). This is appropriate as the original 4900 class prototype of 1925 was converted from 2900 class engine ''Saint Martin''. It was also decided (like 60163 ''Tornado'') to number the locomotive as a new member of the class, sequential to the highest-numbered original Saint, No.2998, ''Ernest Cunard''. An early production lot of Saints were named after historical, mythological or poetical 'Ladies', which corresponds with the name ''Lady of Legend'' chosen for 2999. The original driving wheels for the Hall were in size while the size of the driving wheels for a Saint were , the front bogie wheels were also smaller than those for a Saint as they were and the front bogie wheels for a Saint were . Some of the parts used in the construction of 2999 are original GWR parts that had at one time been fitted to Saints, including a connecting rod from 2906 ''Lady of Lynn'' and whistle from 2910 ''
Lady of Shalott "The Lady of Shalott" is a lyrical ballad by the 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson and one of his best-known works. Inspired by the 13th-century Italian short prose text '' Donna di Scalotta'', the poem tells the tragic story of Elain ...
''. The chimney is also an original part, but is from a 6800 class 4-6-0. The engine was largely constructed in an early configuration, with straight frames, lever reversing gear and a flush riveted tender tank, but for practical reasons there are a number of components and features that are later in design than the Lady series as they originally left the factory. The original height of the 2900 Saints was , but the maximum height allowed for steam locomotives to work on the mainline by
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
is , because of
overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...
clearances. The height of 2999 was therefore reduced, to allow it to operate on the mainline. Mainline operation also requires the additional equipment that none of the original members of its class had, including: AWS (A similar system called ATC was used by the GWR), TPWS,
OTMR A train event recorder – also called On-Train Monitoring Recorder (OTMR), On-Train Data Recorder (OTDR), Event Recorder System (ERS), Event Recorder Unit (ERU), or simply Event Recorder (ER) – is a device that records data about the operatio ...
&
GSM-R GSM-R, Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-Railway is an international wireless communications standard for railway communication and applications. A sub-system of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), it is use ...
. A
speedometer A speedometer or speed meter is a gauge that measures and displays the instantaneous speed of a vehicle. Now universally fitted to motor vehicles, they started to be available as options in the early 20th century, and as standard equipment f ...
would also need to be fitted to the loco as when outshopped the locomotive wasn't fitted with one. A 2019 decision from Didcot regarding the ceasing of mainline running means that the engine will only see use at Didcot and on other heritage railways from that year.


Naming 2999

Many names were submitted in a competition run by the group which were constructing 2999Competition Entries
/ref> and the name eventually chosen was ''Lady of Legend''. Other names that were submitted in the competition to name the new engine included: ''Lady in Waiting'', '' Lady Diana'', ''Lady of Lourdes'', '' Saint Dai'', ''Maindy Court'' (reference to donor loco 4942 Maindy Hall), ''
Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
'', ''
John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...
'' & ''Phoenix''.


Atlantic option

An integral part of the Saint project is the 'Atlantic option'. Although it is intended by the Saint project that the completed engine will run primarily in its 4-6-0 configuration as a Saint because of the plan to go mainline, it is planned to have the engine run for a period during its 10-year boiler certification as a 4-4-2 Atlantic. The number it is expected to carry when converted into its 4-4-2 Atlantic form is 191 and the names include ''Atlantic'' and ''Churchward''. This mirrors the original Saint class of which 13 were built as 4-4-2s for comparative purposes and later converted to 4-6-0s.


References

{{Reflist


External links


Official website on Wayback Machine



Building a Saint documentary
2999 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain 4-6-0 locomotives Steam locomotives of the 21st century