Broad Gauge Facts
Baulk Road
Modern railways use strong track laid on transverse
sleepers or crossties. Boad gauge track
was made of light U shaped rail laid on pieces of timber about 9 x 14 inches
and as long as the rail, called baulks. The
baulks were spaced apart by transoms placed on 5 ½ foot centers.
The original western terminus of the GWR. The GWR began with the Bristol Committee and
their desire to improve business connections with
Brunel was chief engineer of the Great Western Railway. The broad gauge appears to have been completely his idea and to have come to fruition due primarily to his personal efforts and influence
Express Engines
The early express engines only had a single pair of
drivers and were named for the diameter of the single driver in feet -6 footer –7 footer 8-footer. They are also often referred to as Gooch
Singles.
Sir Daniel Gooch
At 20 years of age Daniel Gooch became locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway. Gooch designed
the large majority of Broad Gauge engines and the first dynamometer. He was later made a Baronet (The highest rank
of commoner) for his efforts in laying the trans-Atlantic cable.
Gauge.
The gauge, distance between inner edges of the rails was
7’ ¼ “. Roughly
1.5 times standard gauge or pi – 1 meters.
The GWR ran Broad Gauge trains from 1838 until 1892.
Paddington
The eastern terminus of the GWR, in 1838 a small village
on the outskirts of
James Person
Locomotive Superintendent of the