William Dean

Born	8 January 1840
Died	24 September 1905
Nationality	English
Employer	Wolverhampton Stafford Road Works (apprentice under Joseph Armstrong); Great Western Railway, Wolverhampton (Manager 1864); Swindon Works (Chief Assistant 1868); Great Western Railway (Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent 1877–1902)

Biography

William Dean (1840–1905) was a British locomotive engineer who served as Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the Great Western Railway from 1877 until 1902. His tenure spanned the abolition of Brunel's broad gauge and the move from outside-framed inside-cylinder 4-4-0s to the double-framed 4-2-2 expresses and 2-4-0 mixed-traffic engines of the late Victorian GWR. He is also remembered as the mentor of George Jackson Churchward, who succeeded him.

Dean was born at Hammersmith, London on 8 January 1840. He was apprenticed in 1855 to Joseph Armstrong at the Stafford Road Works of the Shrewsbury & Birmingham Railway, soon absorbed into the GWR's Northern Division. He rose to become Manager of Wolverhampton Works in 1864 and Chief Assistant to Joseph Armstrong at Swindon in 1868, succeeding to the senior post on Armstrong's death in May 1877.

His standard-gauge designs were practical and long-lived. The 2301 'Dean Goods' 0-6-0 of 1883 was perhaps the most successful goods locomotive in GWR history; 280 were built and large numbers were requisitioned for military service in both World Wars, with examples reaching China, Italy and the Middle East. The 'Achilles' or 3031 Class 4-2-2s of 1894 were among the fastest engines of their day. The double-framed Duke (1895), Bulldog (1899) and City (1903, completed under Churchward) classes formed an evolving family for express and mixed-traffic work over the West of England routes.

The death of his first wife in 1889 affected him deeply, and from the late 1890s his health and judgement declined. The GWR Board promoted Churchward to Chief Assistant in 1897 and effectively transferred most engineering responsibility to him; Dean retired formally in June 1902 on a substantial pension and the gift of a house at Folkestone. He died there on 24 September 1905 and was buried at Hawkhurst, Kent.

The transitional 4100 Atbara/Badminton Class of 1900, outside-framed 4-4-0s combining Dean's design tradition with the new tapered Belpaire boilers, illustrates the close working between Dean and the rising Churchward in this period.

Locomotives designed

GWR 1661 Class — George Armstrong's 1876 GWR 0-6-0 saddle-tank class, built at Wolverhampton for shunting and short-distance goods work. Part of the saddle-tank family that evolved into the GWR pannier tanks.
GWR 1813 Class — George Armstrong's 1882 GWR 0-6-0 saddle-tank class, built at Wolverhampton — part of the saddle-tank family that evolved into the GWR pannier tanks.
GWR 1854 — Dean's 1890 GWR 1854 class 0-6-0 saddle-tank — part of the long Wolverhampton/Swindon family of small saddle tanks that evolved into the GWR pannier tanks.
GWR 1981 Class — Joseph Armstrong's 1859 GWR 2-4-0 standard-gauge mixed-traffic class, built at Wolverhampton.
GWR 2361 Class — Dean's 1885 GWR 2361 class 0-6-0 standard-gauge goods, built at Swindon.
GWR 2600 Aberdare Class — Dean's 1900 GWR 2600 "Aberdare" class 2-6-0 mineral engine — the GWR's first 2-6-0s, built for South Wales coal traffic. 80 built between 1900 and 1907. None preserved.
GWR 3201 Stella Class — Dean's 1884 GWR 3201 "Stella" class 2-4-0 — Dean's standard standard-gauge passenger 2-4-0, built at Swindon. 30 built. None preserved.
GWR 3252 Duke Class — Dean's 1895 GWR 3252 "Duke" class 4-4-0 — small-wheeled (5 ft 8 in) 4-4-0s for the GWR's hilly West Country and Welsh routes. 60 built between 1895 and 1899; many later rebuilt with larger boilers as Bulldogs and 3300 "Earl" class.
GWR 3501 Class — Dean's 1885 GWR 3501 class — convertible 2-4-0 tender / 2-4-0T tank engines, built for service on both standard and broad gauge during the 1885–92 transition period. After the 1892 broad-gauge conversion, all were rebuilt as conventional standard-gauge engines.
GWR 4100 Atbara/Badminton Class — Dean's 1898 GWR Badminton/Atbara classes 4-4-0 — Dean's mature 4-4-0 design, named after country houses and military victories. The Atbara of 1900 was an Atbara — named for the Battle of the Atbara in Sudan — and led to the Flower class. None preserved.
GWR 4100 Atbara/Flower Class — Churchward's 1908 GWR Flower class 4-4-0 — successor to the Atbara, named after British wildflowers. None preserved.