No 3299 - Churchward 'Dreadnought' 9 Compartment Third

Once GJ Churchward was appointed Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1902 he set about modernising the Great Western’s locomotives and rolling stock.

The first major change in coach building came about with the introduction in 1904 of the ‘Dreadnought’ carriage. These, replacing the graceful but antiquated 50’ long clerestory coaches, with their 70’ length, 9’6” width and external doors only at the ends and in the centre of the coach, must have come as quite a shock to the travelling public. The ‘Dreadnought’ carriages could carry up to 72 passengers, compared to the clerestory’s maximum of 48.

The nickname for this type of coach comes from ‘HMS Dreadnought’, a 527ft long battleship which entered service in 1906 and subsequently to the class of ships which followed. As the design was so revolutionary similar battleships built after her all became known as dreadnoughts, and earlier battleships as pre-dreadnoughts. The nickname is perhaps also indicative of a similar shift in technology on the railways.

No. 3299 is from the same batch as No. 3277 seen in this official photograph. Photo STEAM Picture Library / Colourisation Adrian Knowles

Unusually, the side corridor, changes sides half way along the coach, possibly with the intention of better weight distribution.

The Dreadnoughts were not popular with staff and passengers and only saw a few years service on the Cornish Riviera Limited before being replaced and relegated to less glamorous traffic.

No. 3299 is a third class coach built in 1905 as part of the last batch of Dreadnought coaches by the Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon company. It was built as a spare coach to fill in for maintenance on the main sets and to bolster summer holiday capacity.

After being withdrawn from passenger use in 1951 it was used at Newquay as a dormitory for summer service catering staff. It was purchased by GWS member David Rouse, an inveterate acquirer of rolling stock and gifted by him to the Great Western Society in 1964, becoming one of our first coaches. It was initially preserved at the Society’s base in Totnes, before coming to Didcot in 1967.

The vehicle requires a major restoration, to which some thought is now being given. In 2022 the body was temporarily separated from the frames, so that the frames and bogies could be jet-blasted and given a protective coat of paint. A specific fund for the restoration of our Edwardian coaches, starting with the Dreadnought was launched in 2022.  You can find out more about the fund, and contribute if you wish, by downloading the 'Restoring The Dreadnought' Leaflet (3.5Mb .pdf document) or you can make a donation online:

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Status

Stored

Build date

1905

Built at

Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company

Original railway

GWR

Lot Number

1098

Diag No

C.24

Length

70’

Date Preserved

1964

More about the History of 3299

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