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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton
GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line
oor Street Station: gwrms2543
Ex-Great Western Railway 4-6-0 60xx (King) class No 6026
King John on the down Cambrian Coast Express crossing the bridge
over the New Street approach tracks and about to enter Snow Hill tunnel.
No 6026 was built in July 1930 at Swindon Works as part of
lot 267 and was initially allocated to Old Oak Common shed (PDN) to haul the
Great Western Railway's premier expresses. The King class locomotives were
designed by the Company's Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles Collett to be the
most powerful passenger locomotives in Great Britain and they certainly
performed well over the stiff gradients of the West Country main line with
heavily laden summer holiday expresses. Fitted with the massive No 12 standard
boiler operating at 250 lb pressure, the tractive effort at 85% was 40,300 lb,
but no power group letter was allocated to these locomotives. The maximum axle
weight was 22 tons, 10 cwt, which required a new route classification of
hatched red to be introduced on the engine route maps and this was indicated on
the locomotive by two red discs on the cab sides (see 'misc_equip195'). The initial hatched red
routes were between; Paddington and Plymouth, and Paddington and Wolverhampton.
Previously the maximum axle weight allowed on any route was 20.5 tons and
several bridges had to be replaced on these hatched red routes (see 'widneymanor'). Wolverhampton was the northern
limit of the King class locomotives until April 1959 following the increase in
platform clearances at Codsall Station. The other main obstacle was the Shifnal
Viaduct, which was reconstructed in November 1953.
Excepting some modifications to the leading bogie and
trailing coupled wheel springs to improve riding, there were no major changes
to the King class before 1947, when a four row super-heater and mechanical
lubricator were trailed and subsequently introduced to the entire class shortly
after nationalisation. In May 1939 it had been identified that Kylchap double
blast-pipes and increasing the size of steam passages could significantly
improve the power and efficiency of the locomotive, but it was only in the
1950s as a result of inferior coal and increased labour costs, that these
modifications were carried out. Self cleaning smoke-boxes were also introduced,
as were larger radius steam pipes. No 6026 received a double chimney in March
1958. This was part of the improved draughting modifications as it reduced the
exhaust pressure.
In March 1935, No 6026 was allocated to Stafford Road shed
(SRD) near Wolverhampton and in October 1939 to Bath Road shed (BRD) in
Bristol. In February 1943 No 6026 was allocated to Laira shed (LA) near
Plymouth and finally returned in November 1959 to Old Oak Common shed (81A). No
6026 was withdrawn from Old Oak Common shed in September 1962 having completed
a total mileage of 1,622,350 miles and was cut up at Swindon Works in December
1962.
Robert Ferris
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