G

Garratt Locomotive
A type of locomotive having a single boiler mounted between two articulated power bogies. The bogies also carried water tanks and fuel. Invented by H.G.Garratt and used worldwide.

Gateshead Works
The main works for the North Eastern Railway.

Gauge
The distance between a pair of rails.

Giesl ejector
A multiple jet blast pipe with as many as seven jets set longitudinally in line. Locomotives using this apparatus are characterized by a long thin elongated chimney.

Gland
A steamtight device fitted around an aperture in a cylinder or other pressure vessel where a piston rod or other actuating rod enters the vessel.

Glasgow & South Western Railway
This railway was formed in October 1850 by the merger of the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr, and the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle. The original main line from Glasgow to Ayr, 41 miles, opened in 1840. Further mergers, leases and agreements resulted in the G&SWR eventually operating all lines in south-west Scotland, the final mileage being 445 miles with a further 131 miles part owned. It became part of the London, Midland & Scottish railway at the 1923 grouping.

Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
A standard gauge preserved railway in Gloucestershire.

Gooch, Sir Daniel
The first Chief Mechanical Engineer and later chairman of the Great Western Railway. Born 1816. Died 1889.

Gooch valve-gear
A valve gear similar to Stephenson valve-gear, but with the expansion link fixed so that it may pivot only. Drive from the expansion link to the valve spindle is taken via a radius link which may be moved up and down in the expansion link to obtain reversal.

Goods shed
A building through or alongside which a railway track and a roadway passes, and which incorporates storage facilities. Such sheds are used for the loading and unloading of goods between road and railway vehicles.

Goods yard
A group of sidings where goods wagons are loaded and unloaded.

Gorton Works
Main works for the Great Central Railway, Manchester.

Grab handle
A handle on a railway vehicle to hold but not to turn.

Grab rail
A long grab handle.

Gradient post
A railway lineside-post on which arms are secured, which have marked on them the gradient of the track. The arms are inclined to indicate a rise or a fall. The gradient is usually expressed as "1 in x" where "x" is the number of units along that must be traveled to rise or fall 1 unit.

Great Central Railway (1)
Known as the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway until 1897 this standard gauge railway was absorbed into the London & North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping. This railway was never particularly prosperous, but the opening of the famous London Extension in 1899 was a financial disaster. There was no real justification for a fourth line to the north from London and the traffic did not materialize.

Great Central Railway (2)
A standard gauge preserved railway in Leicestershire.

Great Eastern Railway
Formed in 1862 by the merger of the Eastern Counties with four smaller railways, it owned 1050 miles of route covering the whole of East Anglia. It also ran over a joint line with the Great Northern extending as far as the South Yorkshire coal fields around Doncaster, thus provided a valuable route for coal traffic from South Yorkshire to East Anglia. Another important adjunct was the Royal Mail steamship service to the continent, via Harwich. The Great Eastern was also famed for the intensity and immense carrying capacity of its London suburban service, its Liverpool Street terminus being one of the busiest of London stations. The Great Eastern became part of the London North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping.

Great North of Scotland Railway
A relatively small railway despite the grand sounding name, it was incorporated in 1846, to construct a line from Aberdeen to Inverness. Progress during the early days was slow, the advance to Inverness being blocked by rival projects; and eventually the G.N.S.R. got no further north-west than Elgin. It served all north-eastern districts of Scotland and became part of the London & North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping.

Great Northern Railway
This railway became famous for setting the pace for speed from its opening to London in 1850; and in the closing years of the nineteenth century its express trains were the fastest in the world. It formed only the first part of the East Coast Route to Scotland, extending just north of Doncaster, 160 miles from London. However much of its revenue came from mineral traffic. The influence of its engineering practices in locomotives and carriages remained strong into the 1920's. It became part of the London & North Eastern Railway at the 1923 grouping.

Great Western Railway (GWR)
The Great Western Railway was created by Act of Parliament in 1835. It was originally built to 7ft gauge (Brunel's broad gauge) before being converted to the British standard 4ft 8½in gauge in May 1892. After the conversion it emerged as one of the greatest of pre-grouping lines, with a mileage of 2700 and running powers over a further 600 miles. It also operated a steamship service between Fishguard and Rosslare, and between Weymouth and the Channel Islands. In the 1923 grouping it became one of `the big four' and absorbed several smaller railways.

Great Western Society
The railway preservation society which operates Didcot Railway Centre at Didcot in Oxfordshire.

Gresley, Sir Nigel
Became Carriage & Wagon Superintendent on the Great Northern Railway in 1905 after training on the London North Western and Lancashire & Yorkshire railways. Promoted to Chief Mechanical Engineer of the GNR in 1911 and continued in the same post for the London North Eastern Railway from its formation in 1923 until his death in 1941. Born 1876.

Gresley valve gear
A type of conjugated valve-gear used extensively on locomotives designed by Sir Nigel Gresley of the London North Eastern Railway.

Ground frame
A small lever frame, either in the open or in an unmanned hut, which controls points or signals remote from the main signalbox.

Ground Signal
A loose term for any signal set at ground level, typically shunting signals.

grouping
In 1923, 123 separate railway companies were grouped into just four, they being the Great Western Railway (the only one already existing), London Midland & Scottish, London North Eastern Railway and Southern Railway.

Guard
A traveling employee who is in charge and oversees the safe working of a train. Where the guard has no assistants such as a conductor on a passenger train, the guard is also responsible for shunting operations and the comfort of passengers.

Guard iron
A fixed metal bar which hangs down almost to rail level just in front of a leading-wheel of a railway vehicle. The intention being that the guard iron will strike any obstructions and knock them clear of the wheels thus preventing a possible derailment.

Guard rail A longitudinal rail running alongside a railway track and raised in height above the running rails. Guard rails are sometimes found on bridges and are intended to restrain the lateral movement of vehicles which might become derailed.

Guard's periscope
A periscope fitted in a guard's compartment of a train, and which projects just above the roof of the vehicle, so enabling the guard to see ahead. Periscopes are normally fitted only when the van is too wide to be able to incorporate duckets.

Guard's van
Another term for a brakevan or full brake.

Gwili Railway
A standard gauge preserved railway in Wales running over what was originally part of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway.