Description

History of GWR No. 24

This Pack focuses only on GWR No. 24 from 1925-1930.

I love a story of an absorbed locomotive. We’re very fortunate at Didcot in having two that served with the Great Western. Absorbed locomotives were engines that became Great Western Railway property when the railway company they were originally built for was absorbed by the GWR. These machines ran counter to standard GWR practice. While Swindon tried to make their huge fleet of locomotives as standard as possible, because these absorbed railways were much smaller, they could only afford to buy small numbers of locomotives.

The integration of these engines into the GWR fleet made them something of an anomaly. They were treated in a variety of different ways. Some were brought to Swindon where after an examination they were found to be no longer fit for purpose or surplus to requirements and were duly either sold or scrapped. Some however were discerned to have further use. Didcot’s No 1338 from the Cardiff Railway is a great example. Post-grouping she had decades of further use, lasting well into the BR era.

One of the things that the GWR did to these oddballs was a process called ‘Swindonisation’. Although these engines were of non-standard designs, many of their fittings and systems could be replaced with off-the-shelf standard items, from Swindon’s own stores. While the engines remained non-standard, this did at least make it easier to keep these machines running. Several even had Swindon-designed boilers fitted.

While there are just a few survivors of this type of machine, there were once hundreds. One of them, despite no longer being with us, is still quite a famous loco. Interestingly, she came from a railway on Swindon’s doorstep. The Midland & South-Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was itself a product of a grouping of a kind. It was formed when the Swindon, Marlborough & Andover Railway (SM&A) and the Swindon & Cheltenham Extension Railway were merged in 1884, the route of this railway therefore really is no surprise! Starting at Andoversford near Cheltenham it wound its way down through Swindon to Andover and then shared tracks down to Southampton docks.

When it was absorbed by the Great Western Railway, it had a total of 31 locomotives. Not possessing a railway workshop for itself on anything like the scale of Swindon, these engines were all built by private contractors – Dübs, Sharp-Stewart and Beyer Peacock were all contributors.

It is from this last company that our subject for today’s chat came. No 16 can only be described as a very pretty looking machine. She is typical of late Victorian design, but just unusually small. She had the 2-6-0 or Mogul wheel arrangement with 4ft diameter driving wheels, and unusually for absorbed locos, was a tender engine. Completed in 1896, she had a tall chimney and dome along with a narrow tender and a curious flat-sided cab. The engine does however have a slightly foreign air about her, and this isn’t really surprising. Several engines of a very similar design were built and sold overseas by Beyer Peacock. Indeed, there are surviving locomotives in Australia showing their family lineage.

She had the wonderful nicknames of Galloping Alice or Galloping Gertie although sadly the engine never carried a nameplate. Like all the surviving M&SWJR engines, the 1923 grouping meant she became Swindon property and was remembered to GWR No 24. In February 1925, Alice got a makeover. Here she was rebuilt using a Swindon standard 9 boiler with a large dome reminiscent of those fitted to the Dean Goods type locomotive. Her cab was also replaced with a far more Great Western style version and she even sported the famous brass tapered safety valve bonnet. Her tender was also upgraded to a standard 2,500 gallon version, giving her 500 gallons more capacity than the previous one.

Galloping Alice, despite being very heavily rebuilt, only survived for another five years. Her usual duties were working local good trains between Stoke Gifford and Swindon. She did however have one last hurrah… Barely a few months before she was withdrawn in 1930, No 24 came to the rescue of a mighty monarch. No 6003 King George IV was hauling the 11:45 am Bristol to Paddington express when part way through the journey the King failed. This happened at Badminton and what happened to be coming the other way? Galloping Alice! She was pulling a Swindon to Stoke Gifford pick up goods train and was immediately requisitioned to pull the express. Clearly Alice was not going to make it all the way to Paddington but despite running tender first, she did manage to get the train to Swindon. Here a spare locomotive was put on the train to complete the journey.

Although number 24 did not survive, part of her railway does. It survives as the route that our friends at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway now run on. So, next time you’re in the area (or possibly on the way to visit Didcot), take a look at their living memorial to the Midland and South-Western Junction Railway and spare a thought for Galloping Alice.

Source: https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/article.php/614/going-loco-september-2024