BRWS Character Competition - Matt01522 & William the Garrett U1

simierski, For your Consideration.

William was delivered to the London and North Eastern Railway on the 21 June 1925. He was named after the patent holder for a basic principle of locomotive articulation. Englishman Herbert William Garratt (1864-1913). He took his 1907 patent to Beyer, Peacock Locomotive builders of Manchester. They developed the design further, in to a world leading design. In 1910 the Great Central Railway began the design processes for a 4-cylinder Garratt. In 1924 the LNER approved a design based on a double 2-8-0 frame based on Robinsons Class O4 (ROD). Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LNER reduced the number of cylinders to 3 and used some design principles from his own O2 Locomotive design. Williams anger has constantly been an issue, developing over 30 years of service. He has no time for anyone and is very short tempered. Most of this stems back to his initial construction when he was told his brother Herbert was not to be constructed. He was destined to only ever see the world from the side having his forward view constantly blocked by his water tank, he would never have any idea were he was going, this irritated him greatly, he blamed his designers. Painted black and given the number 2395 William began service on 1 July 1925 after the Stockton & Darlington Centenary celebrations. He thought being the strongest and most powerful engine in Britain he would be placed on the LNERs premier passenger route to Scotland. This was not to be. Instead he was placed on a short stretch of track between Wentworth Junction and West Silkstone Junction. He was used as a banking engine pushing, in his mind, Inferior and Weaker engines that would pant and moan all the way up the 1in40 incline. The Silkstone tunnels were notoriously bad for air quality giving him a very boilery cough and constantly drinking soft water caused significant corrosion. He was retubed in 1926, Cracked his Firebox in 1927 which was repaired but corroded heavily in 1928 and more trouble occurred in 1930. He blamed his Drivers, Firemen and Fitters, who in reality were doing the best they could, they even tried Chemical Solutions to reduce the corrosion which William did not like, this just made him even angrier. 1946 saw him transferred to a new operator, namely British Railways, re-numbered 9999 initially then 69999. 1949 saw him getting weaker and his cough worse, he needed a new boiler. BR had him converted to oil burning and placed on the lesser Lickey Incline, this was the final straw . He had had enough he started damaging tracks and platforms on the Midland Region and refused to work with his crews. He was retired in December 1955 and was glad. On his way to scrap he stopped at the Copley Hill Shed, will this final stop change his outlook on life and will the engines of Copley Hill make him feel that he had made a difference?

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• BRWS
• Railway
• Model Railway
• 00 Gauge
• Garrett U1

[simierski]

Lovely ideas, lovely entry. Well done. Simon

[Matt01522]

Thank you Simon

Good look with finding the winners

[GeebMachine]

Wow... I really, REALLY liked this! Hope you win. ;)

[matanuialive2010]

@ALCOPRO no, although the garrats were most sucsesfull in those areas i'e astralea, africa an so on

[ALCOPRO]

Herbert William Garratt was actually an Australian Engineer!

[loghead19]

I think this could be a winner

5* :)

[SuperTrainGuy]

really really good

[steamie58]

I really like this one alot. :)

Really well done. Good luck.