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Vintage Photo - What Engine is this?

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Rich3783

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A donation to my local hospice charity shop. Original vintage large format photograph mounted on contemporary card. Engine number is 1210, but I can't find anything else to say who she belongs to. She looks "as new" so maybe her first day out in steam? Nothing written on rear. Despite the clarity of the original I can't make out anything on the maker's plate on its side. Ideally I would like to identify her for when we come to sell. Any thoughts gratefully received. Thank you in advance.

01.jpg
 
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Peter C

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Welcome to the forums! :D
A look on brdatabase.info brings up the following:
DesignerJoseph Armstrong
Introduced1866
Big FourGreat Western Railway
Wheels0-6-0
Number Built as 388310
Number Scrapped302
Manufacturers
ManufacturerTotal
Swindon Works310
Orders
Historical DataEight of these Armstrong Standard Goods currently reside on the bottom of the English Channel where the ship they were in was sunk on its way to Salonika in May 1917.

And http://www.gwr.org.uk/armstrong-goods.html has images of similar-looking engines. Hope this helps!

-Peter
 

TheEdge

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It is indeed a GWR Armstrong Good or 388 class. A fairly common freight hauling locomotive at the time, all gone by the early to mid 1930s.
 

Rich3783

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Welcome to the forums! :D
A look on brdatabase.info brings up the following:


And http://www.gwr.org.uk/armstrong-goods.html has images of similar-looking engines. Hope this helps!

-Peter
Excellent. Many thanks Peter - 1210 features as the second image on the link too! Regards Richard.
 

edwin_m

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After recent discussion on bridge rails, I note the track is laid with them despite there being no broad gauge in sight. And isn't that a (former) broad-narrow gauge transfer shed in the background?
 

Taunton

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GWR 1210 : New 1876, withdrawn end of 1926 from Bristol depot. Over 300 built at Swindon in 1866-76, this is one of the last. It's not new, that's how locomotives were turned out every day then. Note complete absence of weeds on the sidings as well.

1210 was adapted to run on the broad gauge from 1884-1892, with the wheels outside the frame. Here's a picture of fellow 1208 in that condition :

gwr09-convertible060loco.jpg (400×216) (wordpress.com)

In 1909 1210 was fitted with a Belpaire firebox (square top). It hasn't got one in the picture, so I believe it is between 1892 and 1909. The picture doesn't look old enough to be before 1884.
 
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Mcr Warrior

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Where's the likely location in the OP's photograph? Presumably somewhere on the GWR network.
 

talltim

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Without wishing to sound big-headed, this thread has made me realise how much railway knowledge I have absorbed in my life. I didn't know what loco it was, but my immediate thought was 'Great Western', from that and the loco number that I could have looked it up.
It amazing how much its possible to work out country, railway company, builder and age simply from the style from most items of railway infrastrucure once you have a feel for them.
 

edwin_m

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I suggested above that the shed behind the engine looks as if it has one entrance wider than the other, so perhaps one of the places where there was trans-shipment between broad and standard gauge? But probably one of the more minor ones, as I imagine somewhere like Gloucester would have needed a much bigger shed!
 

Taunton

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What do you think ...?

This is from the OS 1902 map for Gloucester. If the loco is standing at the point marked red, with the photographer to the north of it. Between the two stations, the goods shed (which quite likely was once a transhipment shed at that location) with one line going in behind the loco; the extension for the small office outside the shed; the tracks in the foreground, with the photographer in the third one from the shed; the afternoon sun glinting off the far side of the smokebox door showing that is south ...
 

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2192

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What do you think ...?

This is from the OS 1902 map for Gloucester. If the loco is standing at the point marked red, with the photographer to the north of it. Between the two stations, the goods shed (which quite likely was once a transhipment shed at that location) with one line going in behind the loco; the extension for the small office outside the shed; the tracks in the foreground, with the photographer in the third one from the shed; the afternoon sun glinting off the far side of the smokebox door showing that is south ...
The Shed in the Gloucester map has a length more than twice the width, whereas that in the loco in the photo looks less that that.
Somewhere else? But I don't know where.
 

Taunton

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Yes, good find. Northlight roof as well.

The shed in the OP has classic GW building detail, the way the windows are inset in the brickwork, etc. Must have been a standard design of the architecture department at Swindon.

Separately, I wonder when that long footbridge between the stations over the sidings was put in at Gloucester.
 
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