GWR 4100 Class
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The GWR 4100 Class was a class of steam
locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
s in the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
(GWR) of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. The Badminton class express passenger
4-4-0 4-4-0 is a locomotive type with a classification that uses the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement and represents the arrangement: four leading wheels on two axles (usually in a leading bogie), four po ...
steam
locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
s were introduced in 1897 as a development from the earlier Duke class. The name Badminton was chosen after the
Duke of Beaufort Duke of Beaufort (), a title in the Peerage of England, was created by Charles II in 1682 for Henry Somerset, 3rd Marquess of Worcester, a descendant of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester, legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of So ...
's Badminton estate, through which the GWR was building a new line to South Wales at the time. Further modifications to the design resulted in the Atbara Class entering service in 1900, the names for these locomotives generally being taken from contemporary military engagements or senior army commanders. Later engines were named after cities of the British Empire. The final batch of locomotives were named after varieties of garden plant and in consequence were known as the Flower Class. These three types were later standardised and treated as a single class, so are listed together here. Four other prototype 4-4-0s, originally built in 1894 as the Armstrong Class, were also later rebuilt as Badmintons (see below). This class were subject to the 1912 renumbering of GWR 4-4-0 locomotives, which saw the Bulldog Class gathered together in the series 3300–3455, and other types renumbered out of that series. This class took numbers 4100–4172 (of which numbers 4101–4120 had previously been used by Flower Class locomotives).


Badminton class

The first member of the class, no. 3292, was completed in December 1897 with a domed parallel
boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...
, a raised
Belpaire firebox The Belpaire firebox is a type of firebox used on steam locomotives. It was invented by Alfred Belpaire of Belgium in 1864. Today it generally refers to the shape of the outer shell of the firebox which is approximately flat at the top and squa ...
and an extended, built-up smokebox similar to that used on the Duke Class. The outside frames were curved over each driving wheel axle. It was named ''Badminton'' in April 1898. A batch of eleven locomotives, nos. 3293 to 3303, were completed between April and July 1898, with a further batch of eight, nos. 3304 to 3311, between September 1898 and January 1899. The class were the first locomotives on the GWR to be fitted with copper Belpaire fireboxes. The penultimate example, no. 3310 ''Waterford'', was fitted with a domeless parallel boiler, a steel Belpaire firebox, and an enlarged cab. The class were fitted with a steam chest and slide valves located beneath the
cylinders A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infini ...
. The valves were driven by Stephenson valve gear. This inverted arrangement of slide valves and steam chest, originally introduced by
William Stroudley William Stroudley (6 March 1833 – 20 December 1889) was an English railway engineer, and was one of the most famous steam locomotive engineers of the nineteenth century, working principally for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (L ...
of the
LB&SCR The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
, allowed the valves to drop away from the cylinder's steam port faces when the regulator was closed, thus reducing wear. Because the steam chest was below the cylinders, and not between them, the latter could have an increased diameter. The centre line of the cylinders was inclined at an angle of 6° to the centre line of the valves, each centre line being aligned with the driving centre. This arrangement allowed the valve rods to be driven directly from the expansion link. First used on the Armstrong and 3031 Classes, this arrangement of cylinders, valves and valve gear was subsequently used on all GWR outside framed 4-4-0s, with the slide valves being eventually replaced by
piston valves Piston valves are one form of valve used to control the flow of steam within a steam engine or locomotive. They control the admission of steam into the cylinders and its subsequent exhausting, enabling a locomotive to move under its own power ...
. The crankpins for the coupling rods were placed in line with the corresponding inside crankpins for the
connecting rod A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotation of the cranksh ...
s. This arrangement was also developed by Stroudley, who claimed that the motion of the inside cranks was smoothly transferred to the coupling rods, as happens in an outside-cylindered engine, where the connecting rod acts directly on a crankpin shared with the coupling rod. According to Stroudley, the axleboxes, bearing surfaces, hornblocks and coupling rods of locomotives with outside cylinders had a service life twice as long as those on inside-cylindered examples. However, by aligning the two cranks together, heavy balancing weights were required on the driving wheels, at 180° to the outside crank, to counteract the combined mass of the cranks and rods. The Badmintons had massive crescent-shaped balancing weights, which made the unmounted pairs of wheels difficult to handle in the workshop. One locomotive of the Badminton Class was rebuilt with an experimental boiler. With the impending opening of the direct Reading-Taunton route which was of more undulating nature than the route via Bristol, there was a need to ensure that the most appropriate locomotives were provided. Churchward's Chief Assistant, F.G. Wright, designed a large boiler with a very deep firebox, which was fitted to no. 3297 ''Earl Cawdor'' in July 1903. The boiler was designed to hold a large volume of hot water, forming a reservoir to assist the locomotive running along an undulating line. It also provided a steam space of as against the of the Standard No. 4 boiler, the larger of the two types of standard boiler fitted to the 4-4-0s. This increase in volume was intended to provide a reservoir of steam. The firebox was set deep between the coupled axles, with a horizontal grate. The intention with this was to allow a thick fire to be built up, increasing the area of the firebox in contact with the fire, and decreasing the temperature gradient along the firebox plates, thus reducing the risk of broken firebox stays. The boiler was pressed to . No. 3297 was also fitted with a large cab with two side windows, reminiscent of
North Eastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
practice. The locomotive was regularly rostered on the most demanding trains, but it soon became apparent that it was not up to the work demanded and it was relegated to secondary duties. In October 1906 the boiler was removed and replaced by a Standard No.4 boiler, the North Eastern style side-window cab having been replaced by a Churchward type in November 1904.


Atbara class

No. 3373 ''Atbara'' was built in April 1900, the first of a class of forty locomotives. Instead of the curved outside frames of the Badmintons, this class had straight-topped frames, which became the standard pattern for all subsequent outside-framed 4-4-0s. These straight frames were less prone to fracturing, because of the greater depth of plate between the coupled wheels. The Atbaras retained the Stroudley crank layout, cylinders, valves and valve gear of the Badmintons, but differed in the boiler, which was a parallel domeless Standard No. 2 type. No. 3405 ''Mauritius'' was reboilered in September 1902 with a tapered boiler, a prototype for the Standard No. 4 type. It was the first GWR 4-4-0 to be fitted with a tapered (or coned) boiler. Following this, another nine Atbaras, nos. 3400 to 3404 and 3406 to 3409, were rebuilt with No. 4 boilers between February 1907 and February 1909. The ten were added to the City Class. No. 3382 ''Mafeking'' was heavily damaged in an accident that occurred just after midnight on 25 June 1911 at . Adjudged unrepairable, it was withdrawn in September 1911, so was not included in the 1912 renumbering. The remaining Atbaras were withdrawn between April 1927 and May 1931.


Flower class

The Flower Class were fitted with deeper outside frames than the Atbaras, and a new design of bogie developed from the type fitted to the French
de Glehn Alfred George de Glehn (15 September 1848 – 8 June 1936) was a notable English-born French designer of steam locomotives and an engineer with the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM). His steam engines of the 1890s combined el ...
Atlantics ''Atlantics'' (french: Atlantique) is a 2019 internationally co-produced supernatural romantic drama film directed by Mati Diop, in her feature directorial debut. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. ...
. Twenty of the class were built between April 1910 and January 1913. Three were withdrawn in July 1927, with the last withdrawal, no. 4150 ''Begonia'', going in April 1931.


Prototype 4-4-0 locomotives

The Armstrong Class were a group of four locomotives designed by William Dean and built in 1894 with driving wheels. In April 1915 no. 16 ''Brunel'' was rebuilt with wheels and piston valves, having already been fitted with a Standard No.2 boiler. It was renumbered 4169 as a member of the Flower Class. No. 14 ''Charles Saunders'' was converted in May 1917, and the remaining two were dealt with in February 1923.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * *''GWR Engines Names, Numbers Types & Classes''. Originally published by the Great Western Railway and Great Western Railway Magazine 1911 and 1928. Reprinted: David & Charles, Newton Abbot, Devon. 1971.


External links


Atbara Class
{{GWR Locomotives 4100 4-4-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1894 Railway locomotives introduced in 1897 Railway locomotives introduced in 1900 Railway locomotives introduced in 1908 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain Scrapped locomotives Passenger locomotives