GWR 2221 4 4 Class

The GWR 2221 County Class 4-4-0 was a series of inside-cylinder 4-4-0 express passenger locomotives designed by George Jackson Churchward and built at Swindon Works from 1904, named after English counties and designed as a lighter express engine for routes where the heavier Saints and Stars had axle-loading constraints. Churchward's characteristic outside-cylinder, long-travel valve gear design gave the County Class efficient steam distribution for secondary and cross-country express work, with 6 ft 8½ in coupled wheels well suited to GWR secondary main-line speeds.

The County Class was progressively superseded by the expansion of the Halls and Castles, which offered comparable or greater performance at similar route availability. Under Collett and Hawksworth the class was maintained but eventually withdrawn in the early 1930s. The County name was revived in entirely different form by Hawksworth's County Class 4-6-0 of 1945. None of the 2221 Class was preserved.