NATIONAL TREASURES
Sole surviving standard gauge Beyer Garratt
Articulated locomotives never really caught on in Britain. While other countries around the world took widespread advantage of the benefits of articulation, few such engines found a calling on British shores.
Of the main articulated designs, only the Beyer-Garratt could be found in any great number (relatively speaking) with the LMS’ 33-strong class of 2-6-0+0-6-2s being the most numerous, but they could hardly be regarded as wholly successful. It is only in the preservation era that Beyer-Garratts have come into their own, in the shape of the ex-South African Railways 2ft gauge NG/G16 2-6-2+2-6-2s, which regularly post national record mileage figures for steam in their role hauling heavy trains over the tortuous 25-mile Welsh Highland Railway, a role for which they are perfectly suited.
There was, however, one articulated locomotive which was undoubtedly successful and outlived its main line counterparts by several decades: William Francis.
The only Beyer-Garratt built for use in Britain to be preserved, the country’s sole surviving standard gauge example – and the last in commercial service – it is undeniably a national treasure. And now, excitingly, there are plans to return it to steam, 40 years after it last turned a wheel in anger.
COLLIERY CONNECTIONS
William Francis will forever be associated with Baddesley Colliery in Warwickshire, where it spent the entirety of its working life. Situated not in the village with which the colliery shares its name but in nearby Baxterley village, approximately two miles south west of Atherstone on the West Coast Main Line, Baddesley was founded by William Stratford Dugdale and first sunk in around 1876.
Although it was connected to the Midland Railway’s Birmingham-Tamworth line via a branch from Kingsbury Junction, much of the coal was dispatched via the colliery’s own short railway to exchange sidings on the WCML just north of Atherstone, with a short spur to a nearby basin on the Coventry Canal. From the colliery to these termini, the line fell approximately 240ft in a distance about 100 yards short of two miles, with an average gradient of 1-in-47 and inclines as steep as 1-in-23 – a tough proposition for any locomotive, particularly with a rake of unfitted coal wagons.
The line’s topography dictated that, in order to prevent potentially disastrous runaways – particularly at the infamous ungated and unguarded level crossing over the A5 trunk road near the Atherstone end of the line – locomotives headed the loaded wagons down the grade and propelled the empties up. What Baddesley needed then were powerful locomotives with strong braking force, so a Beyer-Garratt fitted the bill perfectly.
WILLIAM FRANCIS THE THIRD
Outshopped from Beyer Peacock & Co.’s Gorton works in Manchester in 1937 as Works No. 6841 and named after William Francis Dugdale, the colliery founder’s son, William Francis was the last of four standard gauge Garratts built for industrial use in Britain (see panel).
In a feature on William Francis and Baddesley Colliery, published in the Industrial Railway Society’s Industrial Railway Record in September 1966, Roger E. West writes: “In appearance, this locomotive was virtually identical to the other three Garratt locomotives supplied by Beyer Peacock for industrial service in this country, but suffered the economy of steel boiler bands and dome cover instead of brass ones on the earlier examples.
“The design is a genuine Garratt, the relatively small size not precluding the full use of the basic principles of the type.”
Until William Francis’ arrival at Baddesley, the colliery had previously made do with a fleet of four and sixcoupled tank engines. The first arrived in 1885; Hunslet 0-4-0ST Works No. 358, the first of three locomotives to carry the name William Francis. It was joined in 1898 by a second, slightly larger Hunslet 0-4-0ST – Works No. 683 Stratford (after William Stratford Dugdale) – and, in 1901, a Kerr, Stuart 0-6-0ST Works No. 682. This engine acquired the name William Francis after the initial Hunslet was sold in around 1900.
Two further locomotives were acquired; Manning Wardle 0-6-0ST Works No. 1891 Merevale (named after the home of the Dugdale family) in 1916 and Andrew Barclay 0-6-0T Works No. 1799 Baddesley in 1923.
In 1937, the Kerr, Stuart was scrapped and it bequeathed its name to the articulated engine that replaced it. With its small, 3ft 4in diameter wheels, 13½ by 20in cylinders and 24,600lb/f of tractive effort, the Garratt was the ideal engine for the short but tortuous Baddesley Colliery line.
It nonetheless led a fairly unremarkable existence ferrying coal from the mine to Atherstone exchange
sidings, its otherwise ordinary life being enlivened every time it had to cross the A5. Roger E. West says: “The job of stopping high-speed traffic on this busy road is a sore point with the crossing keepers and not an enviable task in foggy weather or when it is necessary to work after dark in winter. No gates are provided (except to prevent access to NCB property) or signals – only the usual ‘Crossing No Gates’ signs.
“The potential danger of the crossing and consequent pressure from the county council has caused thoughts of abandoning the line and relying on the MR link from the colliery, but opinion is that the pit would not work properly in such a manner.”
When propelling wagons up the hill towards the colliery, it was usual practice to have a lookout man in the leading wagon to keep an eye out for obstructions and warn the locomotive crew if necessary – but in its latter years, William Francis leaked so much steam from its leading power bogie that it obscured the driver’s view, so a second man was enlisted to stand in front of the smokebox and relay information.
In 1956, William Francis left Baddesley for the first and only time in its career, when it returned to Gorton for overhaul. By this point, it was the only member of the preNational Coal Board fleet left at Baddesley and was aided in its work by a pair of ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0STs – 1943-built Hunslet Works No. 2859 Baddesley No. 1 and 1953-built RSH Works No. 7752 Warwickshire. While the ‘Austerities’ were limited to a maximum of 16 standard 16-ton mineral wagons, William Francis could manage 18.
By the mid-1960s, and with the writing on the wall for main line steam, industrial railways gained more interest from the enthusiast community and William Francis was a minor celebrity, by virtue of its unique status as Britain’s only Garratt remaining in commercial service. Alas, it was withdrawn from NCB service in 1965 and, with car usage rapidly increasing during the 1960s, the A5 level crossing became a potentially dangerous liability. The line upon which William Francis had worked its entire life was thus closed in 1972, and the colliery itself closed in 1989.
Today, little trace of the railway or colliery remains – the line has been ploughed back into fields, while the site of the colliery itself has been razed to the ground and is now the Jaguar Land Rover national distribution centre. The solitary reminder of the railway’s existence is a pair of grey-brick Victorian cottages standing at the side of the A5, next to where the level crossing once was.
WARWICKSHIRE TO NORFOLK
William Francis arrived at the nascent Bressingham Steam Museum in 1968 – the first standard gauge locomotive to be based there – but it nearly didn’t make it. In fact, it might not have stayed in this country at all. Writes Roger E. West: “For some reason, enthusiasts in Canada have taken an interest in William Francis and arrangements have apparently been made to ship the engine across the Atlantic in due course.”
Little more detail is known about the Canadian deal, who the interested buyers were or what their plans were for the locomotive, but according to Steam Engines at Bressingham by the museum’s founder Alan Bloom, “An agreement had been reached and the nameplate
had actually been sent in advance, and then, for some reason, the deal fell through.”
It was at this stage that Alan and Bressingham entered the picture. In the summer of 1968, he was still in the middle of difficult negotiations with BR over acquiring ‘Britannia’ No. 70013 Oliver Cromwell, while delays in the restoration of former London, Tilbury & Southend Railway ‘79’ 4-4-2T Thundersley at nearby Attleborough meant that Bressingham was without a working standard gauge locomotive.
“This delay bothered me greatly,” said Alan, “because, since I’d expected that the locomotive would be ready to come to Bressingham in early June, I’d publicised that fact. I felt strongly the need to have a big locomotive on show, regardless of condition, since so many visitors were asking why Thundersley had not arrived.”
Pioneering preservationist Bernard Latham – who had saved ‘Quarry Hunslet’ Lilla, former Southam Cement Peckett 0-6-0ST Triassic and Fletcher Jennings 0-4-0T William Finlay – informed Alan that William Francis was up for sale, and the possibility of its acquisition piqued his interest.
“As Garratts went, it was not a large one… but even a modest 0-4-0+0-4-0 would be a wonderful addition here, I thought, if only it could be acquired.”
However, with its copper firebox, its estimated scrap value of £1,400 (nearly £24,500 in today’s money) was beyond Alan’s reach. Fortunately, Alan had an ally in the form of Captain Peter Manisty, chairman of the Association of Railway Preservation Societies: “He appealed to the coal board for its preservation, at the same time tipping me off that Bressingham might be favourably considered if his appeal met with success.”
But Alan still needed further help to acquire William Francis. He consulted with his friend, Jim Price – a fellow enthusiast who also saved 1916-built Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 fireless Works No. 1472 Robert Kett and 1942-built RSH 0-4-0 crane tank Works No. 7070 Millfield – and the pair agreed to submit a bid of £500 for the Garratt.
“As an afterthought, I suggested another £25 might up the balance in our favour, just in case someone else plumped for a round £500 offer,” wrote Alan.
He was right to do so. Six weeks after submitting their bid, Peter Manisty called to inform the pair that William Francis was theirs. “There was a hint that, of the offers for preservation, ours was the highest – by £25.”
Moving the engine as one from Baddesley to Bressingham would “have spoiled the look of £1,000”, so it was decided to ship it in three separate units – the power bogies and the boiler cradle. The latter’s arrival at Bressingham was somewhat dramatic, when the low-loader’s wheels sunk in the soft ground, causing the trailer to tip over. Fortunately, disaster was averted when the driver, rather than stopping, decided to power on and right his load. Wrote Alan afterwards: “How that boiler stayed on, straining at its chains, tilting over so alarmingly, I’ll never know, but it did.”
William Francis was duly pressed into service at Bressingham, where it quickly gained its current M&GNstyle ochre livery and ran for “several years,” recalls the museum’s former chief mechanical engineer Phil Gray.
“It was used mainly on weekdays if I remember.
A new set of boiler tubes was fitted after it arrived at Bressingham, after the boiler had been cleaned out as, during its latter working life, it was very poorly looked after and the rest of the locomotive was run into the ground. Four of the main springs were broken and I replaced them with rubber blocks, which made the ride rather bouncy; they are still there to this day.”
GARRATT GATHERING
William Francis last steamed in 1980 and remained in the shed until 2009 when it once again returned to Manchester – to the Museum of Science & Industry – for the ‘Great Garratt Gathering’ marking the design’s centenary, where it was united with its ancestor, K1, and other Beyer Peacock products.
It remained in Jim Price’s ownership, albeit on permanent loan to Bressingham, until his death in 2013. Ownership then passed to Jim’s son, Stewart, who, in 2014, generously donated both William Francis and the Barclay fireless to Bressingham.
As part of an inspection done at the time to see what would be required to return William Francis to steam, Phil Gray noted that it would need a full re-tube, a proper boiler inspection, removal of asbestos cladding, a new grate, new tyres, four new springs (replacing the rubber blocks) and four new cylinder crossheads. As it was never fitted with either vacuum or air brakes owing to its colliery background, some form of braking system for passenger carriages would need to be fitted.
Alas, nothing more was done, and William Francis remained cold and silent, just as it had been for the last 30-plus years. However, its restoration is now a more likely prospect, after Bressingham expressed its desire to see Britain’s sole standard gauge Garratt back up and running again (SR506).
But, much like the museum’s efforts to purchase it in 1968, it cannot do so alone, and it needs financial help to return William Francis to steam. So, if you want to see this national treasure tackling the grade at Foxfield with a rake of 16-tonners and showing what it is capable of, you know who to call.