GWR 6000 Class

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6000 King George V at Swindon having just hauled the last King-hauled train from Wolverhampton and Birmingham Snow Hill (1967?). Note the bell which was given to the engine when it toured America. This engine is now preserved.

6026 King John outside Swindon shed 1954.

6029 King Edward VIII' at Bristol Bath Road, 1959.

6022 King Edward III outside Swindon shed, 1954.

The Great Western Railway 6000 Class or King is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotive designed for express passenger work. They were the largest locomotives the GWR built. They were named for kings of England, beginning with the reigning monarch, King George V, and going back through history (but with the final pair of engines later renamed for George V's sons, who succeeded him).

[edit] Overview

This class was designed under the direction of Charles B Collett, partly as a response to the Great Western Railway's publicity department, in order to regain the 'most powerful steam locomotive in Britain' Title, which had been taken from Collett's Castle Class in 1926 by the Southern Railway's Lord Nelson Class. The Engines, as originally designed, delivered 39,700 lbf tractive effort, with 16" bore x 28" stroke cylinders and 250 psi boiler. At a request from Sir Felix Pole, the Great Western's General Manager, to get the tractive effort up to above 40,000 lbf (a major goalpost), the cylinders were enlarged to 16.25" bore, bringing the figure up to 40,300 lbf, this increase was removed on all members of the class at their first major overhaul.

The first, 6000 King George V, appeared in 1927 and was sent on a tour of North America, for the Centenary celebrations of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), where its sleek appearance and smooth performance impressed all who witnessed it, the application of pressurised oil lubrication showed its advantages over the largely grease lubricated American Locomotives, and was even incorporated into a later design for the B&O in 1928. 6000 King George V was presented with a brass bell to mark the occaison.

These were engines to be reckoned with, powering the Western Region's crack expresses, like the Cornish Riviera Limited, up until the end of regular steam hauled express services on the Western Region; they could easily outperform the diesel-hydraulics that replaced them.

An interesting fact is that although the railway claimed that the class was built in response to longer and heavier trains, It was several years after the introduction of the class before the platforms at the company's major stations were lengthened to accommodate these trains. The class was restricted to the London-Taunton-Plymouth and London-Birmingham-Wolverhampton main lines, and even then, only after bridge strengthening had taken place, due to the engines' large boilers giving them an axle weight of a massive 22.5 tons.

William Stanier based his LMS Princess Royal Class design on the King Class but with an enlarged boiler and firebox necessitating a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement.

They were all withdrawn by 1962, replaced by the less powerful but more available diesel-hydraulics.

[edit] Loco specification

[edit] List of King Class locomotives

[edit] Preservation

Preserved 6024 King Edward I at Paignton in 2005.

Three, 6000 King George V, 6023 King Edward II and 6024 King Edward I have been preserved.

[edit] External links

• Great Western Society pages on King Class

Preserved GWR King Class locomotives
6000 King George V   |  6023 King Edward II   |  6024 King Edward I
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