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 from new with a superheater and top feed. Chimneys were a larger version of the copper-capped type of the first batch.

Coupled wheels had independent springing, without the compensating beams fitted between the axleboxes on Churchward's 4-6-0s. The cylinder block, including the piston valves and smokebox saddle, was constructed from two castings from the same pattern, bolted back to back, each casting containing one half of the saddle. The cab, boiler and coupled wheels were attached to plate frames. The cylinder block was carried on two bar frames, bolted to the front end of the plate frames. The piston valves were driven by Stephenson valve gear. The class were fitted with the Standard No. 4 boiler. One locomotive, No. 3805 County Kerry was fitted with a smaller Standard No. 2 boiler between November 1907 and May 1909.

+ Table of orders and numbers Year Quantity Lot No. Works Nos. Locomotive numbers Notes 1904 10 149 2056–2065 3473–3482 renumbered 3800, 3831–3839 in 1912 1906 20 165 2209–2228 3801–3820 1911–12 10 184 2416–2425 3821–3830

Operation

They were the last new GWR 4-4-0 design and by far the most modern, with inside frames and outside cylinders. They were designed as a part of Churchward's standardisation plan, but were found to have a front end too powerful for the wheel arrangement and all were withdrawn by the early 1930s. They were designed, in part, for the Hereford to Shrewsbury LNWR line over which the GWR had running powers, but on which they were expressly forbidden to use 4-6-0 locomotives. The 4-4-0 Counties were in effect a shortened GWR 2900 Class, providing engines powerful enough for the trains but with the requisite four-coupled wheels.

The key components were all proven but the combination was somewhat poor, and perhaps the least successful of Churchward's designs. From the outset they were found to be rough riders but were otherwise effective locos. All other GWR 4-4-0s were inside-cylindered and none had a piston stroke greater than 26 inches, whereas the 'County' had a 30-inch stroke driving a meagre 8 ft 6 ft wheelbase.

The County Class used the same cylinders and motion as Churchward's six-coupled locomotives and required the same mass to counterbalance the reciprocating parts of the motion. However the weight required had to be divided between four driving wheels rather than six. The heavier balance weights produced a high level of wheel hammer blow; at six revolutions per second the hammer blow was 8 tons, compared with the 3.6 tons of the inside-cylindered City Class and the 6.4 tons of the six-coupled Saint Class. The left hand trailing axleboxes often developed hammering, which was caused by the amount of counterbalancing used.

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. The County Class took numbers 3800–3839.

3833 County of Dorset was the first to be withdrawn, in February 1930. By the end of 1933 all had gone, the last survivor being No. 3834 County of Somerset, withdrawn in November of that year.

They were also the basis for the 'County Tank' GWR 2221 Class design, a 4-4-2T using the same basic design as the County but with a smaller and lighter boiler, and the replacement of the tender by the addition of side tanks, bunker and trailing axle.

NumbersNameFirstSecond (1912)34733800County of Middlesex38013801County Carlow38023802County Clare38033803County Cork38043804County Dublin38053805County Kerry38063806County Kildare38073807County Kilkenny38083808County Limerick38093809County Wexford38103810County Wicklow38113811County of Bucks38123812County of Cardigan38133813County of Carmarthen38143814County of Chester38153815County of Hants38163816County of Leicester38173817County of Monmouth38183818County of Radnor38193819County of Salop38203820County of Worcester38213821County of Bedford38223822County of Brecon38233823County of Carnarvon38243824County of Cornwall38253825County of Denbigh38263826County of Flint38273827County of Gloucester38283828County of Hereford38293829County of Merioneth38303830County of Oxford34743831County of Berks34753832County of Wilts34763833County of Dorset34773834County of Somerset34783835County of Devon34793836County of Warwick34803837County of Stafford34813838County of Glamorgan34823839County of Pembroke

New Build – 3840 County of Montgomery No members of the class were preserved. However, the Great Western Society took the decision to create the next locomotive in the sequence, 3840 County of Montgomery. The project has been handed over to the Churchward County Trust and 3840 will be based at the Didcot Railway Centre following its construction at Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham. The locomotive is being built with both new parts, such as the driving wheels which have been cast using the pattern created for Saint Class 2999 Lady of Legend, and recycled standard parts recovered from former Barry scrapyard locomotives including the Standard No. 4 Boiler, the pony truck wheel set, two pony truck axle boxes, four horn guides and two eccentric sheaves from 5205 Class 2-8-0T 5227, and four driving wheel axle boxes from 2800 Class 2-8-0 2861.

Models Hornby Railways manufacture a model of the 38xx in OO gauge. 3mm Scale Model Railways manufacture a model kit of the 38xx in TT gauge. Hornby manufactured between 1931-1936 electric and clockwork tin-plate models of the 3821 County of Bedford in 0 gauge.

See also List of GWR standard classes with two outside cylinders

References

Bibliography

External links

3800 'County' class Churchward County Trust official website