George Jackson Churchward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Jackson Churchward (31 January 1857 - 19 December 1933) was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) from 1902 to 1922.
Contents |
[edit] Career
In the 19th and early 20th century railway companies were fiercely competitive: speed meant revenue and speed was dependent on engineering. The brilliant engineer G J Churchward delivered to the GWR from the Swindon Works a series of class-leading and innovative locomotives: arguably from the early 1900s to the 1920s the Great Western’s 2-cylinder and 4-cylinder 4-6-0 designs were substantially superior to any class of locomotive of the other British railway companies.
Churchward preferred locomotives without trailing wheels, to maximise adhesion on the South Devon banks of Dainton, Rattery and Hemerdon on the West of England mainline to Plymouth, then the Great Western’s most important route. Due to the weight and dimensional restrictions required to pass over all the GWR’s lines, he designed narrow fireboxes, but with good circulation. Combining high boiler pressures with superheat made efficient use of the high calorific-value steam coal from the mines in South Wales. Other refinements included feed-water distribution trays beneath the top-fitted clack boxes to minimize boiler stress and large bearing surfaces to reduce wear.
In 1922 Churchward retired, and Charles Benjamin Collett inherited his legacy of excellent, standardised designs. These were also influential on other railways; major classes built by the LMS and even British Railways 50 years later are clearly modest developments of Churchward's basic designs.
[edit] Death
Although Churchward had retired in 1922, he continued to live in a GWR-owned house near to the line at Swindon and he retained his interest in the company’s affairs. On 19th December 1933, now with poor eyesight and hard of hearing, he spotted a defectively-bedded sleeper on the down through line and walked over to check it. A fast express struck and killed him.
[edit] City of Truro
The first class of locomotives with which Churchward won success and world-wide recognition was the 4-4-0 'City' class, which soon became well known as the most powerful passenger locomotive. One of them, City of Truro, became the first engine in the world to haul a train at 100 miles per hour in 1904. He went on to build the 'County' class and the 'Star' class.
[edit] Further reading
- Colonel H.C.B. Rogers, G.J. Churchward - A Locomotive Biography (Allen & Unwin, 1975)
- Brian Haresnape, Churchward Locomotives (Ian Allan Ltd, 1976)
- Oswald Nock, GWR in the 20th Century (Ian Allan, 1971)
- Denis Griffiths, Locomotive Engineers of the GWR (Patrick Stephens Limited, 1987)
[edit] References
- Allan, Ian, compiler (March 1944). The ABC of Great Western Locomotives. McCorquodale and Co., Ltd., London.
- Tuplin, W.A. (1956). Great Western Steam. George Allen and Unwin.
- Tuplin, W.A. (1965). Great Western Saints and Sinners. George Allen and Unwin.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by William Dean |
Chief Mechanical Engineer of Great Western Railway 1902 – 1921 |
Succeeded by Charles B. Collett |
