GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hatton Bank: gwrhb1481

Ex-Great Western Railway 4-6-0 4073 ‘Castle’ class No 5012 ‘Berry Pomeroy Castle’ ascends Hatton Bank on the up main line with an express. When built in 1923 the ‘Castle’ class locomotives 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 standard express engine. The Great Western Railway proudly named the majority of the class after fortifications found within the geographical area that the railway served; Berry Pomeroy Castle is an old fortress standing on a wooded cliff at Totnes in south Devon. No 5012 was built at Swindon Works in July 1927 as part of lot 234. No 5012 is known to have been allocated to Cardiff Canton shed (CDF) in January 1934 and in December 1947, prior to nationalisation, was allocated to Exeter shed (EXE). No 5012 was withdrawn from Oxford shed (81F) in April 1962 having travelled 1,625,965 miles and scrapped in December 1962 at J. Cashmore in Newport.

Robert Ferris

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