GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill - Grouping Period Locomotives: gwrbsh3067

Great Western Railway 4-6-0 29xx (Saint) class No 2934 ‘Butleigh Court’ with a class A lamp headcode on an up express adjacent to Platform 8 on 5th June 1937.

The twenty-five ‘Court’ series locomotives were the final development of the two cylinder ‘Saint’ class express locomotives. They carried a Churchward standard No 1 fully coned boiler (type D4) with a long smokebox and belpaire firebox. This boiler was fitted with a Swindon No 3 superheater (14 tubes / 84 element) and topfeed apparatus combined with the safety valve. The boiler pressure of 225 lbs gave a tractive effort at 85% of 23,382 lb and the locomotive was classified in power group C. Subsequent increase in cylinder diameter increased this tractive effort to 24,395 lb, but did not affect the power group. The maximum axle weight was 18 tons, 8 cwt which restricted the locomotive to main lines and a few branch lines (route colour – Red). Details of the Great Western Railway locomotive classification system can be found in 'Route Map' In 1924, the Bridge Stress Committee installed recording equipment on the 112 foot span of the viaduct over the River Parrett at Langport in Somerset and travelling at a constant 86 mph the hammerblow was measured and a combined load of 25.3 tons calculated for the ‘Saint’ class locomotives. This compared unfavourably with the heavier (but four cylinder) ‘Star’ class, but was significantly less than many of the other British railway company express locomotives.

No 2934 was built in November 1911 at Swindon Works as part of lot 185 and originally allocated to Exeter shed (EXE). At this time ‘Saint’ class locomotives regularly operated the principle express services between London and the West Country, but in the late-1920s these duties became the preserve of the more powerful ‘Castle’ class and the ‘Saint’ class was gradually relegated to secondary duties and routes. In January 1934, No 2934 was known to have been allocated to Taunton shed (TN) and in November 1938 No 2934 underwent a major overhaul, receiving new cylinders and a frontend extension which required outside steam pipes. In 1948 No 2934 was recorded travelling at 77 mph on level track near Slough with a load of 420 tons. No 2934 was finally withdrawn from Swindon in June 1952.

The locomotive was named after Butleigh Court near Glastonbury which was the home of Neville Grenfell, a close friend of George Churchward and it was this locomotive that was chosen for the official photograph of the ‘Court’ series.

Robert Ferris

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