GWR French compound 4-4-2 No 104 emAlliance/em at Old Oak Commonn depot some time after having been fitted with a superheated Swindon boiler in 1915.br/ br/ Peter Kerslake adds quot;Recorded almost certainly by way of a large format plate glass negative producing such a fine and detailed image this splendid shot of 104 quot;Alliancequot; is an early view of one of the three French buiilt Compounds purchased by Mr. Churchward in mid 1905 on behalf of the G.W.R.br/ Anxious to develop a fast and smooth running passenger locomotive Mr. Churchard had been favourably impressed by the recorded performances of the French quot;Atlanticquot; Compound design runninng on the Paris to Orleans services and he was able to persuade the G.W.R. Directors to permit the purchase of three such locomotives for evaluation under the close supervision of his team at Swindon.br/ 104, seen here, together with sister engine 103, both of which arrived at Swindon from France in June of 1905, were larger than 102, the first such purchase which had arrived at Swindon in October of 1903, but all three provided Swindon with a wealth of information during their time in service on Great Western metals.br/ br/ Interestingly it's the only quot;Starquot; to make it into preservation which has also been recorded here, with 4073 quot;Lode Starquot; , some three years old , in the background, this sole representative of her class being withdrawn from her last home at Swansea's Landore Depot in 1951 and then being restored for display in Swindon's Railway museum, the engine now being in the care of the National Railway Museum at York.quot;br/ br/ Photo: W.H. Whitworth/Rail Archive Stephenson