Power type Steam Class 4900 'Hall' Class | Build date May 1929 Retired December 1963 | |
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Gauge 4 ft 8 ⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
4930 Hagley Hall is a Great Western Railway, 4-6-0 Hall class locomotive. Built in May 1929 at Swindon Works to a design by Charles Collett. It is one of eleven of this class that made it into preservation. The locomotive is named after Hagley Hall in Worcestershire.
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Its first shed allocation was Wolverhampton Stafford Road. After moving around the midland and southern sections of the western region it was withdrawn in December 1963, having covered the impressive total of 1,295,236 miles, eventually being sold for scrap to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales in May 1964.
Sold to the Severn Valley Railway in 1972 it became the 29th departure from Barry arriving at Bridgnorth in April 1974. It was eventually restored to working condition in 1979, and ran back on the mainline reaching as far south as Plymouth and north to Chester. 4930 hauled the official re-opening train into Kidderminster Town station in 1984.
4930 was also one of the regular locomotives used on the mainline in 1985 during the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway alongside 3440 City of Truro, 5051 Drysllwyn Castle, 6000 King George V, 7029 Clun Castle, 7819 Hinton Manor, 75069 & 92220 Evening Star.
After its withdrawal pending overhaul it was loaned in 1999 to the Macarthur Glen shopping centre in Swindon as a static exhibit. In June 2007 it was returned to the Severn Valley Railway intending to take its place in the new 'Engine House' outside Highley railway station. The Engine House, after a long delay to the floods that hit the railway in June 2007 is now open and Hagley Hall was placed on show.
Return to Steam
In October 2013, 4930 was moved from the Engine house to Bridgnorth so that restoration could begin. The restoration is being supported by the SVR Charitable Trust and the Friends of Locomotive Hagley Hall Group. The money for the overhaul was raised for by members of the public who subscribed to the SVR's share offer scheme that they had planned to help restore 4930 and some matching Great Western coaches. 4930's departure from Highley allowed LMS Black 5 number 45110 to take its place. 4930 has swapped its Hawksworth tender for Witherslack Hall's Collett tender, which is currently the main focus of the overhaul. 4930's overhaul will take at least 2 to 3 years with a return to traffic projected for 2017.
Popular culture
The engine features in the 1986 documentary "Steam Days" with Miles Kington on a run out from Bristol to Plymouth with fellow GWR engine Drysllwyn Castle during the 150th Anniversary of the GWR in 1985.
4930 Also featured running passenger trains on the SVR In the 1986 programme The Great Western Experience alongside other GWR locomotives, such as 5764, 5051 Drysllwyn Castle, 6998 Burton Agnes Hall and 7029 Clun Castle.