WORKING STEAM: Collett ‘Castles’ and ‘Kings’

The latest title in this popular series focuses on some of the best-loved steam locomotives ever to run in Britain. Eventually numbering 179 locomotives built over a near 30-year period, the ‘Castle’ class represented the first design to emerge from Swindon following ‘Collett’s appointment in 1922. Developed from the earlier work of Churchward, the ‘Castles’ were to prove amongst the most successful of all the GWR’s main-line designs, seeing service over much of the GWR/BR(WR) network and surviving right to the end of WR steam. The 30-strong ‘King’ class was the result of the relaxation of weight restrictions over the main lines to the Midlands and West Country, which permitted higher axle loadings than previously. The result of this, along with other modifications, was that the new class, which first emerged in 1927, was a third more powerful than the earlier ‘Castle’ class. Allocated primarily to the GWR’s crack expresses, the ‘King’ class achieved legendary status during their working lives, all surviving in service until withdrawal in the lead up to the final elimination of WR steam in the early 1960s.
Featuring two of the best-known and most successful GWR steam classes Working Steam: Collett ‘Castles’ and ‘Kings’ will be of interest to all those who remember Western steam, to the GWR’s many admirers and all those involved in the preservation of the legacy of the ‘God’s Wonderful Railway’ or in recreating a part of it in model form. 

Author: Roy Hobbs 
Format: HB 80 pages
Publisher: Ian Allan Ltd
Pub date: Oct 2006
ISBN 10: 0711031320
ISBN 13: 9780711031326

List Price: £14.99