Joseph Armstrong (engineer) - Locomotives

Locomotives

The locomotives of the Armstrongs are relatively little known today, compared to the epoch-making work of Gooch and the turn-of-century elegance of Dean's best designs. Most Armstrong engines were withdrawn by the time of the Second World War, many long before, and none was preserved. One writer has suggested that there is in fact not a huge amount to say about them, simply because they were so orthodox and consistently well-designed. At the same time, "...it is fair to say that he left the Great Western better provided with sound engines for every class of traffic than any other railway in Britain, and probably in the world."

All of Joseph's engines were six-wheelers:

• 2-2-2 "singles" for express passenger work, originally some of the "Jenny Lind" type, then most famously the "Queen"/"Sir Alexander" classes (Queen itself was, naturally enough, the GWR royal locomotive) and the slightly smaller "Sir Daniel" class.
• 2-4-0 tender engines for slower passenger trains. There were several classes of these, and they were often rebuilt when they passed through works, whether at Swindon or Wolverhampton - which makes tracing their detailed history a confusing business.
• 0-6-0 tender engines for freight, notably the "Armstrong Standard Goods" or 388 class, of which nearly 300 were built, 20 of them as "convertibles" for the broad gauge. 20 others were built with smaller wheels, for the South Wales coal traffic. The outside-frame version of the long-lived "Dean Goods" 0-6-0s, the 2361 class, was essentially a development of the 388 class.
• 2-4-0 tank engines for suburban passenger work, principally the "Metro Tank" or 455 class first built in 1868; used all over the system, but most known for hauling London suburban trains, which they did for about half a century. Construction continued under William Dean, and some had condensing gear for working over the Metropolitan Railway. Gibson recalled experiencing lively, punctual runs between Maidenhead and Paddington with this surprisiingly powerful class, as late as c.1930. O. S. Nock, referring to the same period, suggests that the running of the "Metros" anticipated modern, electric multiple-unit operation: "I realized that with those old Armstrong 2-4-0s I had an absolutely classic example of precision suburban train performance. It did not matter which of them was on the job; the running was as regular as clockwork."
• 0-6-0 side tank and saddle tank engines for light duties and shunting. Many of these machines were converted to pannier tanks in the time of Churchward, when Belpaire fireboxes were fitted.