18000 as it appears today: weighing a lot less than its original 115 tons, because its motor was removed when it returned to Switzerland in 1965 (Photograph: Jack Boskett)  


GWR/Brown-Boveri gas-turbine locomotive no. 18000 at Swindon in 1949, drawing an interested crowd of officials and railway staff. The locomotive’s livery was black, with a broad silver waist-band, and sporting a large BR ‘cycling lion’ emblem and steel cut-out silver-painted numerals. The locomotive appears at GWR175 in later British Railways express green livery (Photograph: courtesy STEAM: Museum of the Great Western Railway picture library)  

One of the more intriguing exhibits at GWR175 is a large, green, vaguely art-deco piece of machinery numbered 18000.  This is what remains of Britain's first gas-turbine locomotive: an experiment that showed promise but was beset with technical problems that eventually consigned the whole venture into history.  But for a strange set of circumstances, we would only be able to rely on pictures of this impressive locomotive and the Honeyboune Line is delighted to be able to show this little piece of the GWR's pioneering spirit.

In fact this locomotive was ordered by the Great Western in 1940 from Swiss engineering company Brown Boverie & Cie, pioneers in industrial gas-turbine development.  But because the Second World War intervened, the locomotive wasn't delivered to Swindon until 1949, soon after the nationalisation of the railways to form British Railways, of which the Great Western became the Western Region.

Gas turbine traction was being explored by the GWR because at the time, diesel locomotives were insufficiently powerful for express passenger work unless working in tandem - for example, the LMS diesel electric locomotives 10000 and 10001, which the GWR examined.  The specification of the gas turbine locomotive suggested that a single unit would produce roughly similar power to a King class 4-6-0 with the potential of being much more economical operationally more flexible.

18000 was, strictly, a gas-turbine-electric locomotive with an industrial turboshaft power unit driving a DC generator which in turn, supplied four traction motors.  The unit was equipped with a heat exchanger to recover waste heat and thus economise on fuel.  It could burn a variety of fuels but the intention was to use the same heavy fuel oil that was burned in oil-fuelled steam locomotives although this had a tendency to produce ash, causing the unit to fail.  It ran more reliably on lighter and considerably more expensive fuel oils. 18000 was also equipped with a small diesel engine which could power the locomotive for short light-engine movements - for example, moving from Old Oak Common depot to Paddington station to join its train and before starting the turbine.

When the locomotive was running well, it proved more than capable of doing what was required - operating express passenger services at speeds of up to 90mph.  However, it was beset with technical difficulties, not least of which was ash production, while it consumed prodigious quantities of fuel.  this led loco-men to christen it 'Kerosene Castle'.  In addition, it was extremely noisy with a high-pitched scream from the power unit.  The nature of gas-turbine engines is such that they are at their most efficient when running steadily at maximum power output, a quality quite unsuited to the variable speed and stop-start nature of railway locomotives.

By 1960 the decision had been taken to end the experiment and other experimental gas-turbine locomotives, including the similar Metropolitan-Vickers no. 18100 and the Vulcan Foundry GT3 (which was quite a handsome machine built on a Standard 4-6-0 steam locomotive chassis) were also withdrawn.  18000 however was stored at Swindon, before finding its way back to Switzerland in 1965 where its power unit was removed and replaced with ballast. It operated in tandem with an SNCF electric locomotive, which supplied power to its traction motors, and was used for conducting tests related to the dynamics of steel wheels on steel rails.  Eventually this use ended and it was again stored, this time in Vienna by which time its historic significance was recognised, albeit that the locomotive was now just a shell.  It was repatriated in 1992 by Crew Heritage Centre and is now normally displayed at Barrow Hill Roundhouse.  It is on short-term loan to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

Mention should also be made of the final exploration of gas-turbine traction: British Railways' experimental Advanced Passenger Train (APT-E) of 1972 was powered by Leyland gas turbines but this too was abandoned, but not before setting a British railway speed record of 152.3mph on Brunel's Paddington-Bristol route in 1975.  The unit never carried fare-paying passengers, unline 18000, and the following year this work was also abandoned bringing to an end the foray into gas-turbine traction on British Railways.