GWR 4-6-0 identification guide

by John Lewis

(Webmaster's note: this page was compiled a long time ago.
Jim Champ has a better version.)

The GWR used the 4-6-0 wheel arrangement extensively from the Churchward era onwards. Telling the different 4-6-0 loco classes apart is not always easy in photographs, especially for newcomers to the GWR. Below, John Lewis provides a quick guide to assist such identification.

4-cylinder 4-6-0s

All have characteristic deep slide bars and inside cylinder covers which protrude beyond the front of the smokebox. The outside cylinders are placed by the rear bogie wheel.

4-cylinder Castle Class 5063 'Earl Baldwin'

Stars	Churchward cabs with no side windows. Built without steam pipes being visible, but many were fitted with outside steam pipes later, and some were rebuilt as Castles. Additional notes on detail variations can be found here.
Castles	Collett cabs with side windows. Inside framed bogies. Outside steam pipes.
Kings	Collett cabs with side windows. 'Half-outside' framed bogies. Larger boiler. Outside steam pipes.

2-cylinder 4-6-0s

All the 2-cylinder locos have characteristic flat looking slide bars and no inside cylinder covers. The outside cylinders are placed between the bogie wheels and the visible steam pipes are straight. Only inside framed bogies were used.

2-cylinder Saint Class 2930 'St Vincent'

Saints	Churchward cabs with no side windows. Early ones had angular footplates and the cab-side bottom at footplate level. Built without steam pipes being visible, but a few received outside pipes late on in their lives.
Halls	Modernised version of Saints with Churchward cabs and smaller driving wheels. The footplate over the cylinders was level.
Modified Halls	As earlier Halls, but with plate frames throughout. These show above the footplate at the front, below the smokebox, but there are no inside cylinder covers. The bogies on the modified Halls had plate frames which protrude in front of the leading bogie wheels.
Granges	Effectively Halls with 5' 8" driving wheels, instead of 6', and therefore they have a raised footplate above the cylinders. Collett type cab.
Manors	Lighter version of Granges with smaller boiler. Difficult to tell apart from Granges except that the Manors had their boiler topfeed pipes between adjacent boiler bands, whereas Granges have the topfeed pipes 'on the boiler band'. Also, Granges, Halls and Counties had 4-cone ejectors visible – a long conical cover and a pipe adjacent to the handrail on the right-hand side of the boiler. Manors do not have this feature.
Counties 10xx	Similar in appearance to Modified Halls, but had continuous splashers over driving wheels, instead of individual ones. They were all fitted with double chimneys in later years. Collett type cab.

John Lewis, January 2002