GREAT WESTERN COUNTY CLASSES

BY DAVID MAIDMENT • PEN & SWORD

History of overlooked engines. Some pictures badly cropped.

PRICE: £30.00 RATING:

Despite its pedigree in locomotive construction, Swindon didn’t fare so well with ‘Counties’ – none of the three classes with that moniker proving a complete success. These Churchward 4-4-0s and 4-4-2Ts, and Hawksworth’s later 4-6-0s, are therefore the underdogs of GWR steam – but pending the completion of replicas of the tender engines, this book gives them a little more exposure.

It provides a concise but well-presented history of all three classes (plus the one-off small 4-4-2T, No. 4600), mainly dealing with their performance and showing that – despite their reputation for rough riding – the 4-4-0s were capable of a good turn of speed. A fine selection of archive photographs illustrate it – though unfortunately some have been cropped badly, especially the R.C. Riley shot on page 174.

An interesting postscript sheds a little more light on early steaming troubles with the 4-6-0s, and the author’s own memories underline their indifferent performance when he recalls how, oddly, the examples he travelled behind ran well and badly on alternate trips! A few minor errors have crept in – not least the caption to a photo of 4-4-0 County of Glamorgan that has confused the two new-build projects! – but it’s a pleasing tribute to three lost classes. (TJ)