Confused by the title? It is a strange subject but a very apparent one - or at least to me it is.
The primary scope of the topic concerns the majority modelling interests of completed and well-known 3mm model railway layouts. There would appear to be an awful lot of Great Western influenced projects on the go as well, judging by the mail lists so why is the GWR so popular amongst the 3mm fraternity.
Perhaps the basis of this goes back to the days of Triang and the locos and stock available at that time. The Castle class locomotives would have made an easy start to a GWR collection, and the Jinty (although an LMS engine) was a good basic 0-6-0 chassis to turn into one of the many types of saddle-tank locomotives that frequented the GWR with many BEC white-metal kits available to the 3mm modeller.
Perhaps it is related to the design of the locomotives themselves.
I'm ready to be corrected on this one, but all GW locomotives had simple valve gear .... no Walschaerts levers (hope I've spelt that right !!) in sight, only simple slide-bars and connecting rods with all the complication hidden away.
I know that I can't stand valve-gear (which is why I model modern-image !) and this may be a contributing factor when building a locomotive - you've spent ages on building a beautiful body and now you have to fool with loads of levers and cranks just to see your masterpiece in motion.
Perhaps it is the way that the GWR ran and existed that stirs the interest level to re-create a miniature version for all to enjoy in model form.
I personally wouldn't say that the GWR locomotives of old were in any way highly technical and advanced for their time in comparison to the likes of Bulleid's Merchant Navy class or Gresley's A4s, but there is certainly something special about the comparable King class locomotive that warrants a degree of respect and appreciation for a well-designed locomotive. An all quote (probably not shared by non-GWR enthusiasts) is that if something was Great Western then it must be good .... that's quite a statement to make !!
Could it be related to the way that the GWR could always be relied upon to do things differently to all the other regional railway companies.
Broad-gauge was an early example of what could have been - the capabilities of a broad-gauge track with modern stock don't bear thinking about .... just imagine the size of the engines fitted to freight trains within the now much larger body-frame of your broad-gauge loco and ask that question again !!
Why did the GWR decide on diesel-hydraulic traction when all others chose diesel-electric ? Because it was the right way to go at the time, and German influence had proved that the d-h approach worked well ...... just a shame that the theory had to die as modern d-h locomotives could be quite formidable in today's railway world.
I don't know about you, but I really cannot see any one reason why the GWR envokes so much interest, but take everything (and more) that I've covered here and maybe you'll understand why the GWR is still considered the railway company to model.
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