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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Bentley Heath Crossing: gwrbh1622

Great Western Railway 4-6-0 29xx or ‘Saint’ class No 2911 'Saint Agatha' passing the distant signal at Bentley Heath

Great Western Railway 4-6-0 29xx or ‘Saint’ class No 2911 'Saint Agatha' passing the distant signal at Bentley Heath with an express headcode and new non clerestory coach stock on the 2:50 pm. two hour Snow Hill to Paddington up express. No 2911 was built at Swindon Works (Works No 2259) in August 1907 as the first locomotive of lot 170. Although not the first of the class, many of the previous locomotives had experimental variations of wheel arrangements, cylinders and boilers as the Great Western Railway Chief Mechanical Engineer George Churchward developed a heavy passenger express locomotives for the new long distance routes which had been constructed. Thus the twenty locomotives in this lot were identical with 6 foot 8.5 inch driving wheels, 18.125 inch diameter outside cylinders with a 30 inch stroke and a Standard No 1 (14 foot 10 inches long), domeless, long coned boiler with a belpaire firebox (type D4) designed to operate at 200lbs pressure. This new batch was also fitted with screw reverse, permitting finer control of the cut-off, which improved running at high speed.

Finally, following criticism of the utilitarian appearance of the earlier locomotives, the angular aspects of the high running plate were softened by curving the steps at both the front and cab end. The ‘Saint’ locomotives had a power classification Group C, while the 18 ton driving axle weight restricted them to the main lines (Red route availability). In December 1910 a boiler with a Swindon No 3 two row superheater was fitted to No 2911. Superheating removed condensation from the cylinders and made the boiler more efficient. Tests at that time showed a reduction in fuel consumption by 12.5% and water consumption by 20 – 25%. No 2911 received a half coned boiler with a belpaire firebox (type D2) in October 1911, but this was replaced a year later when another long coned D4 boiler was fitted in November 1912. George Churchward introduced topfeed apparatus into the standard boilers initially as a separate mounting, but from June 1911 this was combined with the safety valve mounting. Topfeed allowed the feed water to be heated by the steam at the top of the boiler prior to mixing with the boiler water.

A system of perforated trays prevented precipitation from hard water from clogging the boilers and causing corrosion. The photograph shows No 2911 with a combined topfeed arrangement on a long coned superheated boiler, so this must have been taken after November 1912. The ‘Saint’ class were initially used on the West Country expresses, but were quickly supplanted on the crack expresses by the four cylinder 4-6-0 ‘Star’ class locomotives, however they ruled the Welsh and Northern express routes until displaced by the ‘Castle’ class locomotives had become sufficiently numerous in the 1930s but many survived into British Railways ownership. No 2911 was known to have been allocated to Oxford Shed (OXF) in January 1921, but by May 1922 was at Cardiff Shed (CDF). Towards the end No 2911 was known to have been allocated to Taunton Shed (TN) in January 1934, from where the locomotive was withdrawn the following year, in March 1935. A performance study by Mr AV Goodyear in 1910 recorded No 2911 ‘Saint Agatha’ on the 2:50 pm. Birmingham to Paddington 2 hour express, with one intermediate stop at Leamington. The Scheduled Times were:

  • 26 minutes from Snow Hill to Leamington
  • 91 minutes from Leamington to Paddington
  • Load from Snow Hill to Banbury 295 tons (gross)
  • Load from Banbury to Paddington 215 tons (gross)
Distance (miles) Location Time (minutes seconds) Average Speed (m.p.h.)
0.0 Snow Hill 0 00 -
- - Signals -
3.25 Tyseley 5 35 34.9
7.0 Solihull 10 10 41.3
17.12 Hatton Junction 20 35 50.3
21.25 Warwick Signals -
23.25 Leamington Checked -
0.0 Leamington 2 20 -
6.0 Southam Road 10 30 44.1
11.0 Fenny Compton 16 13 47.5
19.88 Banbury (Slip) 24 35 53.6
87.37 Paddington 91 50 58.6

Leaving Snow Hill on time, signals resulted in a delayed arrival at Leamington. This delayed the subsequent departure from Leamington, but with a fast run to Paddington, the final result was that the total journey to London was only 50 seconds over the scheduled timing.

Robert Ferris

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