GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Lapworth Station: gwrl2523

Ex-Great Western Railway 4-6-0 4073 (Castle) Class No 5031 ‘Totnes Castle’ on the Wolverhampton to Paddington express on Sunday 8th October 1961. On that day single line working was in force with the up main line closed for permanent way work south of Lapworth. The express train is seen reversing across the trailing crossover, so it can proceed on the wrong line.

No 5031 was built in May 1934 at Swindon Works as part of lot 295. When the first of the ‘Castle’ class locomotives was built in 1923, they were the most powerful express passenger locomotives in the country and even after the larger ‘King’ class locomotives were built in 1927, the Castle class locomotives still retained their place as the Great Western Railway’s principle express locomotives. The company proudly named the majority of the class after fortifications found within the geographical area that the railway served. The Castle class locomotive was a four cylinder locomotive with a tractive effort at 85% of 31,625 lbs (Power class D). It had a maximum axle load of 19 tons, 14 cwt which restricted the locomotives to main lines and a few branch lines (Route colour – Red).

No 5031 was initially allocated to Stafford Road shed (SRD) near Wolverhampton and operated express turns on the Wolverhampton - Paddington route. The locomotive was known to be there in December 1947, prior to nationalisation. Following the successful re-draughting work on the King class, the Castle locomotives were progressively modified and fitted with double chimneys, with No 5031 being fitted in June 1959. The locomotive was withdrawn in October 1963 from Stafford Road shed (84A) having complete 1,434,409 miles and was disposed of to Cohens, at Morriston, Swansea.

Robert Ferris

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