GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Birmingham Snow Hill - British Railways Period Locomotives: gwrbsh1805

Ex-GWR 43xx class 2-6-0 No 6364 brings empty coaching stock into Snow Hill station on 28th April 1964. Built by Swindon works to Lot 230 in May 1925, No 6364 remained in service until November 1964 when it was withdrawn from 84F Stourbridge Junction shed. The class was designed by GJ Churchward in 1911 and a total of 342 were built with the last of the class being built in 1932. The number of locomotives built meant that they occupied the following range numbers 4300 to 4399, 5300 to 5399, 6300 to 6399 and 7300 to 7321 ranges. The 43xx Moguls were the maids of all work on the GWR network and then later, the Western Region of British Railways. Employing a Standard No 4 boiler and support struts similar to those fitted to the '28xx' class, the 43xx class very quickly earned an excellent reputation in its ability to handle most types of traffic, from local stopping goods to main line expresses.

After the first twenty locomotives were built, the frames of subsequent engines were lengthened by nine inches at the rear to give better access for maintenance as well as providing more room in the cab. Eighty-eight were withdrawn in the 1930s with the wheels and motion of eighty locomotives being used for the Grange Class and eight for the Manor Class engines. The outbreak in 1939 of the Second World War brought a halt to these conversions. During the First World War eleven class members were transported to France (Nos 5319 to 5326 and Nos 5328 to 5330) for service in the Railway Operating Division of the British Army. Only two locomotives of the 342 engines built only two have been preserved.

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