County of Bedford

County of Bedford, commonly known by others as "Bedford", is a GWR 3800 class 4-4-0 that now works for Tri-ang Railways. He is the sole-surviving original Churchward County and is used when either Mathew or Neilson are undergoing overhauls.

Bio
County of Bedford was built at Swindon Works in 1912 as one of the Holcroft-era Counties. After nearly 20 years of service, County of Bedford was withdrawn from service in place of more powerful 4-6-0s on express-passenger duties on the GWR in 1931 but was bought straight off the GWR by TR as a replacement for TR's own 4-4-0s, No. 8 Mathew and No. 9 Neilson, underwent an overhaul and there would always be two express-passenger 4-4-0s in service at the same time. Following Blue Comet's arrival during WWII under lend lease, County of Bedford and the two "Highlander" class engines saw their existence in threat but until the war is over, that just settled in their smokeboxes.

In 1951, Bedford underwent an extensive overhaul as most of his parts were worn out due to wartime maintenance and austerity regulations following the Second World War. He wasn't ready by the time of the 1954 TR Centenary celebrations as he didn't re-enter service until 1955 due to heavy repairs and the need for a new axle box from Swindon (this was before Ashton Works gained the drawings for GWR locomotive parts). Most of service in the 1950s and 1960s saw him clash with more modern BR Standard designs allowed up to Nerland such as the 6 'Clan' and 4MT tanks, after insulting him for his age and referring to as a "museum piece". In 1962, Bedford returned to his former stomping grounds of the Western Region after a gap of over 30 years, as he had heard that many of his old friends were being scrapped and he didn't want to see them go before saying goodbye to them. He would meet several of his old friends and make quite a few new ones during his stay until returning in December 1963.

Livery
County of Bedford is painted in Great Western Lined Green with an unlined tender fender. After December 1963, County of Bedford features small white "PDN" (Paddington) on the front of his running board.

Basis
County of Bedford is based off the real locomotive of the same name. It was one of 40 GWR 3800 'County' class 4-4-0s built by Swindon from 1905 to 1912 for express duties and based on the 4-6-0 2900 'Saint' class locomotives from 1902. A further 20 were built between 1911 and 1912 with modifications to the original design by Harold Holcroft. The class was withdrawn following the introduction of the 4073 'Castle' class in 1923 from 1931 to 1933. All have been scrapped but a new-build, No. 3840 'County of Montgomery', is being built.

No. 3821 'County of Bedford' was built at Swindon as one of the later Holcroft-era locomotives in 1912 and was scrapped in 1931.

Filming model
County of Bedford's main model is a slightly modified and repainted Hornby Railroad model. Due to his model's old tooling, the cylinders are too far back from their actual position. His faces were based on his sourced smiling face from a Wooden Railway Proteus toy, which are held to his model's smokebox door with Blu Tack.

Trivia
When County of Bedford heard that County of Hants was coming in 1964, he mistook Hawksworth County No. 1016 for his older brother No. 3815. This could be a reference to when all but three of the 30 Hawksworth Counties took the names of their Churchward ancestors.


 * Furthermore, Bedford is always getting unwanted attention by Hants.

In 1987, County of Bedford became the first steam locomotive on TR with a full female crew.

County of Bedford's number was reused on the GWR on a 2884 class 2-8-0 built in April 1940 and withdrawn in October 1964.


 * Bedford met the replacement No. 3821 during his visit to the Western Region in 1962-1963. Things didn't go well.

Due to no official sound recordings existing for the 3800 'County' class, County of Bedford uses sounds from No. 3440 'City of Truro' and No. 2999 'Lady of Legend'.

Country of Bedford has real dislike for retro music.