GWR 3700 City Class 4-4-0

The GWR 3700 City Class was a fleet of twenty 4-4-0 express passenger steam locomotives designed by George Jackson Churchward for the Great Western Railway. Built at Swindon Works between 1903 and 1909 (ten as new construction, ten as rebuilds of older Atbara Class engines), the class was intended to handle the GWR's lightweight high-speed expresses on the West of England main line until Churchward's planned new 4-6-0s were available in numbers. The class is best remembered for an extraordinary moment in railway history: the alleged 102.3 mph run by 3717 City of Truro on 9 May 1904, which is widely regarded as the first time any locomotive in the world exceeded 100 mph in regular service.

Churchward took the existing Atbara/Badminton 4-4-0 design, fitted it with a new Standard No. 4 boiler at higher pressure, and tightened up the cylinder design. The result was a 4-4-0 that was lighter and more economical than the larger 4-6-0s coming from Swindon, but powerful enough to handle a six-coach West of England express at 75 to 80 mph throughout. The first ten engines were built new (3700 to 3717, later renumbered) and ten more were created by rebuilding existing Atbara Class engines to the City standard.

The class's competitive period was short. The GWR Star Class 4-6-0 of 1907 took over the heaviest West of England expresses, and the GWR Castle Class of 1923 made the City obsolete on premium services. Most engines were cascaded to secondary work, where they continued for another decade or more, and the last in regular service (apart from City of Truro itself) was withdrawn in 1931.

The famous Ocean Mails run took place on 9 May 1904. The Great Western was running a special Plymouth-to-Paddington train carrying mail from a transatlantic liner, with the schedule deliberately set to demonstrate the GWR's competitive advantage over the rival London and South Western Railway. 3440 City of Truro (later renumbered 3717) hauled the Plymouth-to-Bristol leg, and the run was timed by Charles Rous-Marten of The Railway Magazine. He recorded a peak of 102.3 mph descending Wellington Bank in Somerset, where the gradient is steeply downhill and the loaded train was running light. The methodology was disputed at the time, however, and the GWR itself never officially accepted the 100 mph claim, fearing it would encourage public expectation of dangerously high speeds. Modern reanalysis suggests the true peak was probably between 99 and 102 mph, but if the figure is correct, City of Truro was the first locomotive in the world to exceed 100 mph in service.

City of Truro was withdrawn from regular service in March 1931 and preserved at the Great Western Railway Museum at Swindon, on the recommendation of the GWR's management as a piece of railway history. The engine was returned to working order in 1957 for the centenary celebrations of the GWR's opening to Plymouth, and ran in preservation through to 1961. It returned to traffic in 1985 for the GWR 150 anniversary, ran through to 2010, and has been static since. It is currently displayed at the STEAM Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon, in the original early-period GWR fully-lined middle-chrome green livery, as a tribute to its 1903 to 1904 record-breaking days. It is the only survivor of its class and one of the most famous individual locomotives in British railway history.

Design and development

George Jackson Churchward, who became locomotive superintendent of the GWR in 1902, set out from the start of his tenure to modernise the GWR's passenger fleet. The Atbara/Badminton 4-4-0 class of 1900 to 1902 was Dean's last 4-4-0 design and was already showing its age on the heaviest West of England expresses. The need was for a more powerful 4-4-0 that could handle the lightweight high-speed services on the Plymouth and Bristol main lines, including the Cornish Riviera Express, until Churchward's planned new 4-6-0s were available in numbers.

The City Class was the result. Churchward took the existing Atbara/Badminton design, fitted it with a new Standard No. 4 boiler at higher pressure, and tightened up the cylinder design. The result was a 4-4-0 that was lighter and more economical than the larger 4-6-0s coming from Swindon, but powerful enough to handle a six-coach West of England express at 75 to 80 mph throughout. Twenty engines were built between 1903 and 1909: ten as new construction (3700 to 3719, later 3700 to 3717) and ten as rebuilds of older Atbara Class engines (3433 to 3442).

The class's working life as a front-line express engine was short. The Star Class 4-6-0s of 1907 took over the heaviest West of England expresses, and the Castle Class of 1923 made the City obsolete on premium services. Most engines were cascaded to secondary work, where they continued for another decade or more. By the 1930s the class was largely on secondary expresses, and the last in service (apart from City of Truro itself) were withdrawn during the late 1920s.

Service and withdrawals

The City Class spent its prime working the GWR's premier West of England expresses from 1903 to about 1910, when the Star Class took over. They worked the Cornish Riviera, the Cornishman, the West of England limited, and the heavy Bristol and Cardiff expresses; the Plymouth-to-Paddington Ocean Mails service of 1904, where City of Truro made its famous run, was the high-water mark of the class's competitive period.

From 1910 onwards the class was cascaded to secondary main-line work as the new 4-6-0s came into service. They worked the Birmingham and Wolverhampton expresses, the Worcester and Cardiff services, and the cross-country routes from the West Midlands to South Wales and the West of England. By the 1920s most were on relief turns, parcels, and lighter passenger work, and withdrawals began in 1927.

City of Truro itself was withdrawn from regular service in March 1931 and preserved at the GWR Museum at Swindon. The other Citys were withdrawn between 1927 and 1931, none of them surviving into preservation. The class was extinct in regular service by 1932.

Identification features

A handsome Edwardian 4-4-0 with a tall stovepipe chimney, a Belpaire firebox, brass-rimmed copper-capped chimney, polished safety-valve bonnet, and the GWR coat of arms on the tender. The cab is plain and small, and the running plate ramps up over the cylinders giving the engine a slightly stepped profile. 3717 City of Truro carries cast-brass nameplates on the side splashers in the elegant GWR serif style.

Numbers and names

3433–3442originally Atbara/Badminton-style names rebuilt to City standards
  1. 3433
  2. 3434
  3. 3435
  4. 3436
  5. 3437
  6. 3438
  7. 3439
  8. 3440
  9. 3441
  10. 3442
3700–3719new builds 1903 to 1909
  1. 3700
  2. 3701
  3. 3702
  4. 3703
  5. 3704
  6. 3705
  7. 3706
  8. 3707
  9. 3708
  10. 3709
  11. 3710
  12. 3711
  13. 3712
  14. 3713
  15. 3714
  16. 3715
  17. 3716
  18. 3717
  19. 3718
  20. 3719
1903–1909
  1. 1903
  2. 1904
  3. 1905
  4. 1906
  5. 1907
  6. 1908
  7. 1909

GWR 3433 to 3442 (originally Atbara/Badminton-style names rebuilt to City standards), and 3700 to 3719 (new builds 1903 to 1909). The 3433-3442 series were the rebuilt Atbara Class engines fitted with Standard No. 4 boilers; the 3700 to 3719 series were new construction. 3717 City of Truro was new in 1903 and carried this number until 1912, when the GWR renumbering scheme moved it to 3717.

Notable locomotives

3440 City of Truro (later 3717) is the most famous of the class and is the only survivor. Built at Swindon Works in May 1903, it ran the Plymouth-to-Paddington Ocean Mails special on 9 May 1904 and is reputed to have reached 102.3 mph descending Wellington Bank in Somerset. The peak was timed by Charles Rous-Marten of The Railway Magazine, but the methodology was disputed at the time and the GWR itself never officially accepted the 100 mph claim, fearing that it would encourage public expectation of dangerously high speeds. Modern reanalysis suggests the true peak was probably between 99 and 102 mph, making City of Truro the first locomotive in the world (or among the first) to exceed 100 mph in regular service.

City of Truro was withdrawn from BR service in 1931 and preserved on the recommendation of the Great Western's management as a piece of railway history. It went to the Great Western Railway Museum at Swindon and later, with the building of the National Collection, was moved between the National Railway Museum at York and the STEAM Museum at Swindon. It was returned to working order in 1957 and ran in preservation until 1961, then again in the 1980s and 1990s. It has been static since 2010 and is currently displayed at STEAM Swindon.

The class was named after British and Empire cities: City of Bath, City of Bristol, City of Chester, City of Truro, City of Liverpool, City of Hereford, and so on. The names gave the class a distinctive marketing identity for the GWR's premium services.

Allocations and regions

New 1903 to 1909 allocations were principally Old Oak Common (London) and Plymouth Laira, with the class working the West of England expresses including the Cornish Riviera, the Cornishman, and the West of England limited. From the 1920s, as the Star and Castle classes took over the heaviest expresses, the Citys were progressively moved to Wolverhampton Stafford Road, Worcester, Cardiff, and Swindon for the Birmingham and Welsh routes. By the 1930s the class was largely on secondary expresses, and in the 1940s the surviving engines worked from Worcester and Wolverhampton on parcels and cross-country services.

Livery history

The class was outshopped from new in the GWR's middle-chrome green livery, fully lined out in black-and-orange, with polished brass fittings, copper-capped chimney, and the full GWR coat of arms on the tender. They retained this livery essentially through their working lives. The simplified GWR livery of 1928 (without the orange line) was applied at later overhauls. British Railways from 1948 painted the surviving engines in lined GWR-style green. The preserved 3717 City of Truro has carried both early-period GWR fully-lined green and post-1928 GWR green during its preservation career, and is currently in the early-period livery as a tribute to its 1903 to 1904 heyday.