R.o.B

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Kory McLeod

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R.o.B Motive Power
King George V 4-6-0

Specifications: 4-6-0 King Class built by the GWR Swindon works 1927-1930
BR Numbers: 6000-6029
Tractive effort: 40,300lb at 85% boiler pressure
Cylinders: (4) 16 1/4 in   Diameter 28 inch Stroke
Driving Wheels: 6 ft 6 in
Bogie wheels: 3ft
Axle Loading: 22 tons 10cwt
Steam pressure: 250lb psi
Fuel/Capacity: 6 tons
Water Capacity: 4000 gallons
Total Weight: 135tons 14cwt
Length: 68 ft 2 in
BR Power classification: 8P
Purpose: Express passenger
Rote Availability: Double Red
GWR Power class: Special

The King class were the GWR's most powerful of locomotives designed by Charles Collett who had also designed the 'Castle' class which were more powerful than the LNER 'Flying Scotsman'. One of the principle reasons for the development of the 'King' class was due to the Southern railway developing its 'King Lord Nelson' class which were powerful machines that gave fierce competition for the 'Castles'' locomotives.  Lot of Locomotive development throughout the 1920's and 1930's was an achievement to have the fastest most powerful locomotives with many world records being broken between the four companies. The resulting King class with the first, King George V unveiled to traffic on 29^th June 1927 (see below), were very heavy with some differences to their Castle class predecessors such as smaller driving wheels and larger boiler and heavier weight, though there was essentially very little noticeable difference in performance until the engines were put on the steeply graded South Devon routes to Plymouth where they really came to the front able to haul heavily loaded trains at speed up the steep gradients with apparently little effort a route they were familiar with as well as routes to Bristol, South Wales and Birmingham as they were too heavy for many of the other routes. Perhaps the design of the engines came to the front when William Stanier of the LMS developed the design and taper boiler principle for the high speed high power locomotives for the London to Scotland services especially on the 4-6-2 Queen Elizabeth class and the later improvement resulting in the Duchess class. The whole of the King class were withdrawn from traffic in 1962 with Nos.6000 and 6024 preserved.

'King George V' 6000: King George V was the first of the last group of GWR 4 cylinder locomotives the locomotives being based on the principles of the GWR Star class of 1907 as were the Castle class of engines. The only problem was the designers had ignored advances in locomotive design that the LMS and LNER had developed. The first of the King class was King George V and was allocated the number 6000 entering service on 29^th June 1927. After only a short period to 'run the engine in' in GWR service King George V was dispatched to America to participate in the centenary of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad where it impressed the Americans with its power, hauling a 543 ton train from Washington DC to Philadelphia at speeds up to 74mph. To commemorate the visit the authorities gave the engine 2 cab side medallions and a brass bell that was sited on the engines front buffer beam. A problem with one of the 30 strong class occurred when the plate frame leading bogie of King George IV No. 6003 de-rail at speed with the 4 independently sprung wheels being the problem. The situation was resolved but during WW2 the engines had to have more improvements made as the engines had been designed to use the high quality Welsh coal but as this was in short supply steaming was bad so the super heater temperature was raised accordingly. The 1950's saw more improvements with the fitting of double chimneys and blast-pipes aiding running and the addition of no less than 4 super-heaters saw the engines enter British Railways ownership. The engine spent most of its working life at Old Oak common depot in London though did go to Bristol, Bath Road and Plymouth, Laira for short periods. King George V was withdrawn from BR traffic in December 1962 after having run almost 2 million miles and was automatically preserved as part of the national collection though it was in storage for 5 years. It had been intended for the engine to be taken to the Great Western Museum in Swindon but in 1968 H.P Bulmers of Hereford undertook heavy restoration of the locomotive to bring it back to main line operating standard and re-commenced main line running in 1971 after long negotiations with British Rail being the first steam locomotive to break the British Rail ban on Steam locomotives operating on the main line.

'King Edward 1' No.6024: This engine was withdrawn from traffic with the other King's though instead of going to the Scrap yard it was used as a weight tester for a new bridge at Chepstow along with sister engine No.6023 'King Edward 2', having been based at Old Oak Common depot for nearly 40 years. Today the engine is owned by the 6024 preservation society Ltd which purchased the locomotive in 1974 for 4000 pounds, to preserve and bring it back to running condition and was the 36^th locomotive to be rescued. On 26^th April 1989 the engine was re-commisioned by HRH the Duke of Gloucester returning to main line traffic on 15^th April 1990 and today tours many of Britain's preserved railways and also does rail tours on the main line.