|
|
|
|
GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton
GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line
Birmingham Snow Hill - British Railways Period Locomotives:
gwrbsh1255
An ex-Great Western 4-6-0 49xx 'Hall' class locomotive No
5955 'Garth Hall' standing at the end of platform 7 with the 3 45 Swansea train
in June 1957. The journey will be through the Snow Hill tunnel and via
Stratford-upon-Avon and Gloucester. No 5955 Garth Hall was built at
Swindon Works in December 1935, as part of the sixth batch of this class of
engines (Lot 297). The Halls were designed as multi-purpose engines to replace
the 2-6-0 43xx class Mogul locomotives. They proved to be a very successful
design capable of handling both heavy freight and express passenger duties and
the class eventually numbered 330 locomotives (including 71 modified Halls,
some of which were built by British Railways after nationalisation).
No 5955 was withdrawn from Bristol Barrow Road shed (82E)
in April 1965 and scrapped in August 1965 at Birds, Risca. The first coach in
the train is No W6104W, which was one of four 57 foot, bow-ended, ganged
composite coaches (diagram E136) completed on 27th April 1929 (Lot 1398). This
coach was built to operate in one of a pair of six coach sets, which each
comprised; two composites, two full thirds and two brake thirds. These sets
were the first Great Western Railway coaches to have their windows flush with
the panelling (instead of recessed) producing a cleaner external appearance.
The coach number was given the W prefix and suffix after nationalisation. The
photograph shows the corridor side of the coach. Most bow-ended coaches were
withdrawn in the early 1960s.
Robert Ferris
back
|
|
|