Editing GWR 3800 Class (section)

==Operation==

They were the last new GWR 4-4-0 design and by far the most modern, with inside frames and outside cylinders. They were designed as a part of Churchward's standardisation plan, but were found to have a front end too powerful for the wheel arrangement and all were withdrawn by the early 1930s. They were designed, in part, for the Hereford to Shrewsbury LNWR line over which the GWR had running powers, but on which they were expressly forbidden to use 4-6-0 locomotives. The 4-4-0 Counties were in effect a shortened [[GWR 2900 Class]], providing engines powerful enough for the trains but with the requisite four-coupled wheels.

The key components were all proven but the combination was somewhat poor, and perhaps the least successful of Churchward's designs. From the outset they were found to be rough riders but were otherwise effective locos. All other GWR 4-4-0s were inside-cylindered and none had a piston stroke greater than 26 inches, whereas the 'County' had a 30-inch stroke driving a meagre 8 ft 6 ft wheelbase.

The County Class used the same cylinders and motion as Churchward's six-coupled locomotives and required the same mass to counterbalance the reciprocating parts of the motion. However the weight required had to be divided between four driving wheels rather than six. The heavier balance weights produced a high level of wheel hammer blow; at six revolutions per second the hammer blow was 8 tons, compared with the 3.6 tons of the inside-cylindered [[GWR 3700 Class|City Class]] and the 6.4 tons of the six-coupled [[GWR 2900 Class|Saint Class]]. The left hand trailing axleboxes often developed hammering, which was caused by the amount of counterbalancing used.<ref name=OSNb16>{{harvnb |Nock |1978 |p=16}}</ref>

This class were subject to the [[GWR locomotive numbering and classification#1912 Renumbering|1912 renumbering]] of GWR 4-4-0 locomotives, which saw the Bulldog class gathered together in the series 3300–3455, and other types renumbered out of that series. The County Class took numbers 3800–3839.

3833 ''County of Dorset'' was the first to be withdrawn, in February 1930. By the end of 1933 all had gone, the last survivor being No. 3834 ''County of Somerset'', withdrawn in November of that year.<ref name=OSNb66>{{harvnb |Nock |1978 |p=66}}</ref>

[[File:GWR County tank class 2221 (Howden, Boys' Book of Locomotives, 1907).jpg|thumb|County Tank 2221]]
They were also the basis for the 'County Tank' [[GWR 2221 Class]] design, a 4-4-2T using the same basic design as the County but with a smaller and lighter boiler, and the replacement of the tender by the addition of side tanks, bunker and trailing axle.

{| class="wikitable"
!colspan=2 align=center|Numbers
!rowspan=2 align=center|Name
|-
!width="90" align=center|First
!width="90" align=center|Second (1912)
|-
|align=center|3473
|align=center|3800
|[[Middlesex|County of Middlesex]]
|-
|align=center|3801
|align=center|3801
|[[County Carlow]]
|-
|align=center|3802
|align=center|3802
|[[County Clare]]
|-
|align=center|3803
|align=center|3803
|[[County Cork]]
|-
|align=center|3804
|align=center|3804
|[[County Dublin]]
|-
|align=center|3805
|align=center|3805
|[[County Kerry]]
|-
|align=center|3806
|align=center|3806
|[[County Kildare]]
|-
|align=center|3807
|align=center|3807
|[[County Kilkenny]]
|-
|align=center|3808
|align=center|3808
|[[County Limerick]]
|-
|align=center|3809
|align=center|3809
|[[County Wexford]]
|-
|align=center|3810
|align=center|3810
|[[County Wicklow]]
|-
|align=center|3811
|align=center|3811
|[[Buckinghamshire|County of Bucks]]
|-
|align=center|3812
|align=center|3812
|[[Ceredigion|County of Cardigan]]
|-
|align=center|3813
|align=center|3813
|[[Carmarthenshire|County of Carmarthen]]
|-
|align=center|3814
|align=center|3814
|[[County of Chester]]
|-
|align=center|3815
|align=center|3815
|[[Hampshire|County of Hants]]
|-
|align=center|3816
|align=center|3816
|[[Leicestershire|County of Leicester]]
|-
|align=center|3817
|align=center|3817
|[[Monmouthshire (historic)|County of Monmouth]]
|-
|align=center|3818
|align=center|3818
|[[Radnorshire|County of Radnor]]
|-
|align=center|3819
|align=center|3819
|[[Shropshire|County of Salop]]
|-
|align=center|3820
|align=center|3820
|[[County of Worcester]]
|-
|align=center|3821
|align=center|3821
|[[County of Bedford]]
|-
|align=center|3822
|align=center|3822
|[[Brecknockshire|County of Brecon]]
|-
|align=center|3823
|align=center|3823
|[[Caernarfonshire|County of Carnarvon]]
|-
|align=center|3824
|align=center|3824
|[[Cornwall|County of Cornwall]]
|-
|align=center|3825
|align=center|3825
|[[Denbighshire (historic)|County of Denbigh]]
|-
|align=center|3826
|align=center|3826
|[[Flintshire (historic)|County of Flint]]
|-
|align=center|3827
|align=center|3827
|[[County of Gloucester]]
|-
|align=center|3828
|align=center|3828
|[[County of Hereford]]
|-
|align=center|3829
|align=center|3829
|[[Merionethshire|County of Merioneth]]
|-
|align=center|3830
|align=center|3830
|[[County of Oxford]]
|-
|align=center|3474
|align=center|3831
|[[Berkshire|County of Berks]]
|-
|align=center|3475
|align=center|3832
|[[Wiltshire|County of Wilts]]
|-
|align=center|3476
|align=center|3833
|[[Dorset|County of Dorset]]
|-
|align=center|3477
|align=center|3834
|[[Somerset|County of Somerset]]
|-
|align=center|3478
|align=center|3835
|[[Devon|County of Devon]]
|-
|align=center|3479
|align=center|3836
|[[Warwickshire|County of Warwick]]
|-
|align=center|3480
|align=center|3837
|[[County of Stafford]]
|-
|align=center|3481
|align=center|3838
|[[Glamorganshire|County of Glamorgan]]
|-
|align=center|3482
|align=center|3839
|[[Pembrokeshire|County of Pembroke]]
|-
|}