C_B_COLLETT

Charles Benjamin Collett was born in September 1871, the son of a journalist. He was educated at Merchant Taylor's School in London, before studying at London University and later becoming a pupil at the works of Maudsley, Sons and Field of Lambeth, marine engine builders. A post in the drawing office at Swindon, which he took up in 1893, set him on course for an acclaimed career in railway engineering.

Within five years he became assistant to the Chief Draughtsman, this was followed by the post of Technical Inspector at the Swindon Locomotive Works. A few months later he became Assistant Manager.

In 1912 Collett assumed the mantle of General Manager and it was during this time he undertook a radical development of the manufacturing side of the works,which was to play a significant part in future Great Western locomotive production.He was appointed Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer in 1919, Then in 1922, following Churchward's retirement he finally achieved the top post of Chief Mechanical Engineer.

Collett's managerial style was in complete contrast to Churchward's while Churchward was more domineering Collett's attitude was milder and perhaps more tolerant than his predecessor, though he still insisted on high quality work and loyalty. He appears to have been an aloof man, but well respected, with a sense of humour. The naming of the hybrid Victorian looking "Dukedogs" after various Earls (including some GWR directors) was an example of this!

Collett was fortunate in inheriting a strong legacy from Churchward were a standard locomotive series had been produced to cover operating needs for the next 15 to 20 years. Collett, however, improved the designs. He introduced better workshop practices, which cut down manufacturing costs, and using techniques such as optical alignment of the frames, he made the Churchward locomotives into more precision machines. There were also many innovative features introduced into the rolling stock. When Collett took office there were seven different designs of bogies in common use, by a process of elimination, a common bogie was eventually fitted to all the coaches.

Like Churchward, Collett was a firm believer in standardisation, but this proved a disadvantage when a large number of small railway companies - most of them Welsh - were absorbed into the Great Western in the post grouping era. Almost 1000 non-GWR engines found themselves in the Swindon Works for repair and refitting and it called for a great deal of engineering skill on all sides to bring these locomotives up to Swindon standards. It was during this period Collett introduced the 5600 class mixed-traffic engine, pannier tank 57xx class and several other freight classes to replace the many Victorian saddle and pannier 0-6-0's which were a familiar site in almost all parts of the Great Western System.

There was a need during the early years of the 1920's for a more powerful locomotive than the Star class, thus Collett began designing an updated version to the weight limit allowed. An enlarged boiler with a grater evaporative rate and increased cylinder diameters brought the tractive effort up to 31,626lb, making the Castle class the most powerful british locomotive. In 1924 Collett took the decision to rebuild Churchward's GWR prestige symbol The Great Bear as a Castle, this was because after 16 years service the locomotives unique No.16 boiler was, along with renewal of its inner firebox, due for expensive repairs. This would have been an unjustifiable expense, particularly as the engine had a restrictive route availability. Therefore from an economic and engineering point of view, Collett's decision was correct - at the time however, the rebuild did raise eyebrows within the Great Western hierarchy!

Although the King class was considered Collett's masterpiece, it was the Castle class, perhaps more than any other, that established Collett as a great locomotive engineer. It would be difficult to find any other express passenger locomotive design that has remained a standard type for 38 years, with 28 of those years seeing only small changes to the original specification.

Collett's other contributions to Great Western motive power were:

The Hall class, mixed traffic engines introduced in 1924 from a modified Churchward Saint class two-cylinder 4-6-0.

The King class four cylinder 4-6-0's were introduced in 1927. The design was the logical enlargement of established GWR practice and the answer to the GWR need for "super power" following the steady growth of train loadings.

The Grange class was another mainly Churchward mixed traffic design introduced in 1936 to replace the 4300 class moguls. However because of their weight they were "route restricted". Collett introduced his lightweight Manor class to overcome this restriction.

The final 4-6-0 design by Collett was the Manor class Introduced in 1938. With an axle loading of just over 17 tons this made them suitable to use over routes that the larger Grange class were barred. The original boiler for the Manors proved to be an indifferent steam producer and it was not until various tests (On 7818) were made that the draughting arrangements were modified, transforming the boiler and engine performance.

Collett recognised the potential of the AEC streamlined railcar, introduced in 1931, though this prototype car was badly underpowered. In collaboration with AEC Co. the design was improved and developed by Collett for GWR needs, with a batch of 20 built between 1940-1942 at Swindon. War prevented any further expansion of the fleet, but the majority of the railcars survived in service until replaced by BR diesel multiple units, whose design owed a great deal to the work done by Collett in pre-war days.

Collett took little interest in the affairs of the town, (his only public post being that of a magistrate from 1921-1928) being happy to delegate these duties to William Stanier his assistant since 1924. This was in contrast to his predecessors who saw their duties to the welfare of both the Swindon workforce and town population as an integral part of the job. In 1923 Collett's wife died suddenly after a short illness, always a close couple, Collett took this loss very hard indeed - nevertheless, he had recovered sufficiently to act as works representative conducting King George V and Queen Mary on the first official visit to the town of Swindon in 1924. Following a tour of the works, the King and Queen were invited on to the footplate of Windsor Castle where they enjoyed a short ride from the works to Swindon station.

Collett spent his working life living in Swindon, (at the western end of Bristol Street), however in 1938 Swindon Borough Council took the unusual step of naming a street after Collett while he was still in office. Collett Avenue, built in 1938, is in Rodbourne Cheney. After his retirement from the GWR in 1941 he moved to Wimbledon where he lived until his death in 1952, just a few months short of his 81st birthday.