a series of two cylinder 4-6-0 locomotives. No. 100 was out-shopped in February 1902, named Dean (later William Dean) in June 1902 to mark the latter's retirement. It incorporated a domeless parallel boiler, raised Belpaire firebox, diameter outside cylinders with piston stroke, and boiler pressure of . The piston valves were driven by rocking levers actuated by the expansion link of Stephenson valve gear – this particular design was only used on no. 100. No. 98 was out-shopped in March 1903, to a similar design but with a taper boiler, re-designed valve gear layout and cylinders, and a shorter wheelbase. Valve diameters were increased from to . No. 171 was out-shopped in December 1903, incorporating the improvements to No. 98 but with a boiler and minor amendments to the heating surface and grate area. Built as a 4-6-0, in October 1904 it was converted to a 4-4-2 to enable better comparison with the performance of the French de Glehn compound; it was reconverted to 4-6-0 in July 1907. Named Albion in 1904, it received a superheated boiler in 1910. Experimental French locomotives On succeeding Dean, the GWR board authorised Churchward to purchase three French de Glehn-du Bousquet four-cylinder compound locomotives, in order to evaluate the benefits of compounding. Similar to the Paris-Orleans Railway's 3001 class and built by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques, the first locomotive no.102 La France was delivered in 1903, with Nos. 103 and 104 purchased in 1905. The locomotives had two high pressure cylinders fitted between the frames, and two low pressure cylinders outside. Each was initially fitted with a standard-pattern GWR chimney, a GWR tender and had their numbers positioned in GWR fashion on the sides of the cab. They were then each placed into service to evaluate performance, and then following engine crew feedback were modified to test other aspects of Churchward's design experimentation and philosophy. In 1926, the three locomotives were based at Oxford shed. In operational practice, compounding did not provide any significant improvement in either performance or economy compared to No 171 Albion, Churchward's prototype 4-6-0, which was converted to a 4-4-2 specifically for direct comparison with them. A further 13 engines in the Saint class were also originally built as 4-4-2s. GWR 4-6-0 2900 Saint class Experimental 4-6-0 No. 171 formed the basis of the GWR 2900 Saint Class. It appeared in four production series built between 1905 and 1913,