Daniel Gooch standard gauge locomotives

The Daniel Gooch standard gauge locomotives comprise several classes of locomotives designed by Daniel Gooch, Superintendent of Locomotive Engines for the Great Western Railway (GWR) from 1837 to 1864.

History

In 1854 the GWR absorbed two standard gauge lines, the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway and the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway to become the GWR's Northern Division. Consequently, from then until his retirement in 1864, Daniel Gooch (the company's Superintendent of Locomotive Engines, a post he had occupied since 1837), although a passionate advocate of the GWR's original broad gauge, of necessity also became responsible for designing standard gauge locomotives for the new Northern Division. From 1858 the construction of standard gauge engines started at the newly enlarged Northern Division Works at Stafford Road, Wolverhampton; these were designed by Joseph Armstrong, the Wolverhampton Locomotive Superintendent that the GWR had inherited along with the S&BR.