103 1900s where
French compound 4-4-2 No 103 emPresident/em after being fitted with a Swindon boiler.br/ br/ Peter Kerslake says quot;A fine portrait, possibly taken at Swindon, of French Compound 103 seen bearing her quot;Presidentquot; nameplates fitted in 1907, the engine having earlier run nameless for two years following its purchase in company with 104 quot;Alliancequot; by the G.W.R. in June of 1905.br/ These two locomotives were similar to 102 quot;La Francequot;, taken into stock at Swindon two years earlier, the first of the three French Compounds acquired by Mr. Churchward on behalf of the Great Western at a time when he was seeking to design an express passenger locomotive.br/ The Compounds provided much useful information for those at Swindon during their time in service, with Mr. Churchwards quot;Starquot; class incorporating a number of details from the French Compounds which had worked the heavy passenger services between Paddington and the West of England in their early years, later seeing service from Wolverhampton Stafford Road and then from 1913 from Oxford Motive Power Depotquot;br/ Photo: Rail Archive Stephenson