W. G. Bagnall

History

It was founded in 1875 by William Gordon Bagnall and ceased trading in 1962 when it was taken over by English Electric Co Ltd. English Electric didn't purchase Bagnall directly; the owner at the time was local engine manufacturer Dorman Diesels which was taken over by English Electric and so Bagnalls was included in the deal.

Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns and Vulcan Foundry were acquired in 1955 by English Electric and in 1962. English Electric formed English Electric Traction to bring all railway activities under one set of management.

The majority of their products were small four- and six-coupled steam locomotives for industrial use, and many were narrow gauge. They were noted for building steam and diesel locomotives in standard and narrow gauges. Some of Kerr Stuart's designs were brought to Bagnalls when they employed Kerr Stuart's chief Draughtsman. Examples of such locomotives can be seen on the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway.

Location

The company was located at the Castle Engine Works, in Castle Town, Stafford. The factory is currently being demolished. The factory was in a state of disrepair and is being demolished to make way for houses.

Design

Bagnalls introduced several novel types of locomotive valve gear including the Baguley and the Bagnall-Price. They also used marine (circular) fireboxes on narrow gauge engines, a design that was cheap but needed a different firing technique.

Bagnall also developed the inverted saddle tank. The two tanks were joined underneath the smokebox and supported the smokebox. Bagnall also commonly used the saddle tank which carries the water on top of the boiler.

Bagnalls also produced pannier tank locomotives such as the GWR 5700 Class of which Bagnall produced 100 of the class for the Great Western Railway from 1930 under lot number 262 and in 1931 under lot number 272. Bagnall also produced the GWR 9400 Class in two orders, 1949-51 lot number 384 and in 1953-54 to the same lot number. Bagnall produced their own pannier tank designs, examples of such can be seen at the Mangapps Railway Museum in Essex.

Bagnall designed possibly the most advanced steam locomotive and one of the most powerful: the 0-6-0ST Victor/Vulcan locomotives.

Steam Locomotives

Bagnalls also created locomotives for the Great Western Railway and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the form of the GWR 5700 Class, the GWR 9400 Class and the LMS Fowler Class 3F.

During the war, Bagnall was subcontracted work for the Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST which resulted in 52 being manufactured from 1943 to 1947.

The Great Western Railway Bagnall GWR 9400 Class was numbered 8400–8449 and numbers 8400 to 8406 were employed on the former L.M.S. system at Bromsgrove giving banking assistance on the Lickey Incline.

Bagnall Works numbers 2358–2364 of the LMS Fowler Class 3F class were employed on the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

LMS Fowler Class 3F No. 16539 (In the LMS 1934 renumbering scheme it became No.7456) was built by Bagnall in 1926 was one of two locomotives regauged by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway for the Northern Counties Committee, the other locomotive was built by Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds which lasted until 1963, the Bagnall lasted until 1956 when a suspect crank pin led to her early withdrawal.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph The Victor/Vulcan 2994-6 locomotives were ordered by the Steel Company of Wales (SCOW) for their Abbey, Margam and Port Talbot works in 1950. They had a whole range of such as 18" X 26" cylinders, together with piston valves, roller-type big-end and side-rod bearings, manganese steel axle-box and horn plate liners, hopper ashpans, self-cleaning smokeboxes, rocking grates and Lambets wet sanding. Steel fireboxes were used as well as "Owens" patent poppet valve and balanced regulator valves. surprisingly the locomotives wasn't fitted with superheating and although the locomotives were powerful they weren't the most powerful as the Peckett OQ Class with 29,527 lbf of tractive effort was the most powerful while the 2994-6 locomotives only had 25,250 lbs of tractive effort. In later life 2994 and 2996 were sold to Austin Motor company and were named 'Victor' and 'Vulcan' . They ran until 1972 when the locos were preserved on the West Somerset Railway and currently run at the Stephenson Railway Museum and the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway. 2995 was sold to NCB at the same time for use at a colliery and was scrapped in 1967.

Diesel Locomotives

Bagnall also manufactured diesel locomotives. An example of this is the New Zealand TR class locomotive which W.G Bagnall built seven TRs in 1956-57.

Electric Locomotives

Bagnall also manufactured electric locomotives. Bagnalls worked with Siemens at the Siemens Stafford works to supply the electrical equipment for the locomotives.

Paraffin Locomotives

Parraffin Locomotives was one of Bagnall's specialities and appear in most catalogues that Bagnall created.

Models

There are few W.G. Bagnall RTR (ready to run) locos and kit locomotives. Here are a few examples.

Bachmann Branchline currently produce the OO gauge version of the LMS Fowler Class 3F which Bagnall built and Bachmann are currently manufacturing the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway liveried Fowler 3F which has been correctly numbered to number 23 which is a number of one of the Bagnall 3Fs, it also features printed Bagnall name plates.

Mercian Models produce possibly Bagnall's most advanced loco to date in 7mm scale (O gauge) The Victor/Vulcan locomotives are in two forms; the complete kit which features the body kit, frames, detailing, motor, gearbox and wheels, and the kit only option which features everything except the motor, gearbox and wheels.

There are a few custom kits as well. If you look at the gallery there is an O16.5 0-4-2T loco which is an O gauge loco but runs on HO/OO track as it is narrow gauge.

In 2014, Hornby introduced a representation of a preserved four wheeled diesel shunter into their budget Railroad range utilising the body from "Dart" from the Thomas The Tank Engine range.

Operational