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Wooden Replica of an Iron Duke
Built in 1981, this is a replica of an original Great Western Railway (GWR) locomotive designed by Sir Daniel Gooch in 1847. Daniel Gooch designed Iron Duke to pull express trains from the GWR’s London terminus at Paddington to Bristol, Exeter and the West Country, and that is what it did for 45 years.
This replica, like the original, is a broad gauge railway locomotive. Broad gauge track is seven feet wide, but most railways were built to the standard gauge of four feet eight and one half inches. So broad gauge, despite some technical advantages, lost the battle of the gauges, because too many railways had already been built to the standard gauge.
The broad gauge was converted to standard gauge over one weekend in May 1892 and the Iron Duke class of locomotives, now known as Rovers, were scrapped. This replica allows the Museum to demonstrate broad gauge railway technology.
Fact File
- Object: Replica of 1847 Iron Duke class locomotive
- Built: 1981
- Built by: Resco Railways Ltd
- Built for: National Railway Museum
- Gauge: 7 ft (2.1m)
Locomotive inventory number 1985-1989