08/09/2016

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Delivering mail and hauling passengers was the Saint Class’ staple throughout their operational lives, leaving London as the day comes to a close and passing through the Riviera Line in the shadow of night. The Saint Class truly was a grand example of Great Western engineering and is now ready for you to enjoy in Train Simulator, complete with unique TPO rolling stock, courtesy of Partner Programme developer, Victory Works
After modifications to the Great Western Railway network, converting lines into the widely adopted standard gauge, modernisation quickly came into effect. New lines that shortened the distance between London and the West Country were not seeing a dramatic change of journey times, services were still being hauled by older and slower locomotives. New traction was clearly required and G. J. Churchward, soon-to-be Chief Mechanical Engineer of the GWR, sought to deliver.
After acquiring several experimental locomotives (and also designing his own), Churchward, who was now C.M.E. ordered a prototype loco to be built at GWR’s Swindon Works. This first prototype finished production in February 1902 and was numbered ‘100’, later being named Dean, then William Dean in honour of Churchward’s predecessor. This 4-6-0 prototype took into account of all Churchward’s initial findings, however following testing further modifications would be made to future models, leaving ‘100’ as a unique locomotive.
A further two prototypes were built in 1903, no. 98 and No. 171, each developing on the last and also featuring a mix of 4-4-2 and 4-6-0 wheel configurations (the latter of which was eventually proven to be the best, and also chosen as the base for the new production locomotives).
A total of four different Saint Class production series would be built between 1905 and 1913. Each series was given its own name, these were; Scott, Ladies, Saints and Courts. Multiple variants could be listed between the different series, the main differences were in the frames, boilers and smokeboxes. Combined, the four series came together to form a 77-strong fleet of Saint Class locomotives.
The Saint Class proved suitable as passenger and mail haulers on longer-distance journeys, being able to cope with just about anything aside from the top link expresses. Once the Castle Class was introduced in the early 1920s, many Saints (and their larger sisters, the Stars) were displaced to secondary duties. However, a problem arose with the Saint class as their large wheels were deemed ineffective for hauling freight.
While Churchward tried to rectify the lack of freight locomotives with the 4700 Class, his successor, C. Collett decided to modify the original Saint Design and built out of 2925 Saint Martin a new prototype locomotive. This new locomotive would become a success and soon be known as the Hall Class, which in itself turned into the Modified Hall, Grange, Manor and County Classes. The Saint Class was recognised as, ‘one of the most important steps forward in railway traction of the 20th century’ by The Great Western Society, a locomotive that in no doubt became the future of the GWR.
Despite the acclaims of the revolutionary Saint Class, no examples managed to survive into preservation. All locomotives were withdrawn from service by 1953 and subsequently scrapped, leaving their successor locomotives to continue on until the end of steam.
Thankfully, not all hope is lost for the return of the Saint Class. The Great Western Society are currently in the process of reverting an old Hall Class locomotive, 4942 Maindy Hall, into a Saint Class no. 2999 Lady of Legend. 2999 is a continuation of the Saint Class’ numbering and so Lady of Legend will essentially be a ‘new’ locomotive to the Class (aside from being a Hall conversion) much like 60163 Tornado is to the LNER Peppercorn A1 Class.
The Travelling Post Office
The Great Western Railway was famous for a service called the Travelling Post Office. These trains would set out from London in the dead of night and deliver the post to every major town, ready for the locals to open in the morning. The trick to a fast and reliable Travelling Post Office is to have a consist which does not need to stop, and the solution was quite revolutionary.
The concept of the Travelling Post Office first originated in the 1830s. Post began to run across the Liverpool & Manchester Railway following an agreement with the General Post Office, and within the decade it became mandatory that all railways had to carry the mail in some capacity. It was in 1838 when the concept of sorting the post on the train itself came to fruition, the Grand Junction Railway was the first, with the post being sorted on the way. This post service must’ve proven popular as by the mid-1840s it had been extended up through to Scotland.
The services quickly became known as Travelling Post Offices, and could either be formed of dedicated mail rolling stock or a mixture of mail and passenger. Not only did this concept continue throughout Britain, it was also employed across various Commonwealth countries and even the Army.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Travelling Post Office is the rolling stock itself, and how it interacts with the world around it. The Sorting Coach and Baggage Coach would’ve been built off of existing rolling stock designs, be that local ‘Big Four’ or BR Mk1 etc. and would feature dedicated ‘TPO’ interiors, complete with unique mail equipment. The Baggage Coach would be fitted with a net and several mail bag holders, while on the trackside similar equipment would be standing, ready to perform the mail transfer.
At specific locations, workers inside the TPO would prepare the mail bags to be hung from the side of the coach, and then these bags would be collected by a trackside net. At the same time, any empty mail bags would be returned to the coach by a similar process. This operation happened while on the move and allowed for non-stop services throughout the night.
The first special Travelling Post Office was across the GWR network, London to Bristol services started in 1855 and the lineside equipment was introduced at Maidenhead and Slough just over a decade later.