Contents
04: Introduction
06: The Collett Legacy
28: Britain’s Most Powerful Passenger Locos
50: Summary of the Castle Class
84: Preserved Castle Class Locos
94: Clive Hanley Showcase
98: King or Super Castle
108: Summary of the King Class
116: Preserved King Class Locos
122: GWR Streamliners
125: David Anderson Showcase
Introduction
The Great Western Railway always saw itself as an industry leader, and as such was an unashamedly publicityseeking organisation.
Historians have rightly commented that the organisation was in fact the most charismatic railway company always striving to provide its customers with the very best in comfort and punctuality, while doing so with panache and style. Indeed the GWR's locomotive fleet was noted for its striking distinctive liveries, embracing a generous, but nevertheless tasteful use of copper embellishments. The Castle and King class four-cylinder 4-6-0 locomotives designed by the company's Chief Mechanical Engineer (1922-1941) Charles Benjamin Collett were not only the epitome of grace and style but also express passenger locomotives of the very highest calibre.
Right from the start the new engines attracted comment and publicity, firstly the Castle class was introduced by the GWR publicity department as being ‘Britain's Most Powerful Express Passenger Locomotive’.When the first of the class was exhibited in London it was met with almost universal approval and soon went on to prove itself worthy of the aforementioned title when trialled against similar sized locomotives manufactured by other railway companies.
The detractors were quick to point out that Collett’s Castle class locomotives were simply a development of his predecessor GJ Churchward’s Star class engines. However simply making a bigger version of something is no iron clad guarantee of success and due credit must be given to Collett for making ‘his’ new design ‘work’. It should be noted that the success of the class was also in no small way attributable to groundbreaking new production techniques which Collett introduced at Swindon Works.
The class was produced between August 1923 and July 1946 by the GWR, and then between May 1948 and August 1950 by British Railways with all 171 of the class being rebuilt/built at Swindon Works. As the Castle class engines were tagged enlarged Star locomotives it therefore came as no surprise that the 1927 introduction by Collett of his King class attracted the comment that those machines were not new at all but actually only Super Castles!
The King class engines regained for theGWR the title of ‘Britain’s Most Powerful Express Passenger Locomotive’ which the Castle class had earlier lost to the Southern Railway Lord Nelson class. The first King locomotive left Swindon Works in June 1927 and the last of the 30-strong class was outshopped in August 1930. Both classes of engines were modified to good effect during their working lifetimes with the change to varying specifications of superheated boiler having the most beneficial effect on performance.
The GWR and then BR/WR put both Castle and King class locomotives to good use and the types became loved and respected by railwaymen and enthusiasts alike. Recall if you will a famous TV advertisement in which an American gentleman tells us that he was so impressed with the performance of a certain brand of electric razor that he ‘bought the company’. In 1926 the largest of the big four railway companies, the London Midland & Scottish, tried unsuccessfully to buy 50 Castle fourcylinder 4-6-0 locomotives from the GWR. Unable to buy the Castles or indeed the company in 1932 the LMSR did the next best thing, they successfully ‘bought’ the services of one William A Stanier!
He reportedly arrived at Crewe with a wooden chest full of Swindon inspired drawings! Stanier was Collett's Principal Assistant from 1922 to 1932. For the record the American entrepreneur was Victor Kiam, the razor was a Remington.
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