GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Lapworth Station: gwrkd3915

Ex-Great Western Railway 4-6-0 5013 (Castle) class No 5088 ‘Llanthony Abbey’ caught sporting a new double chimney on the Down main line north of Lapworth on Wednesday 9th July 1958. The lamp headcode and Train Identification Board number ‘556’ indicates that this is the 12.15 SX Kingswear to Wolverhampton express. See 'Headcodes' for more details. This returning West Country summer holiday express will have been routed along the Bearley to Hatton branch to avoid being delayed by suburban traffic on the North Warwickshire line and would reach Birmingham Snow Hill around 19:00. It can be seen carrying the reversed 'Cornishman' headboard, which No 5088 is returning to Wolverhampton.

No 5088 was built at Swindon Works in February 1939 as part of lot 317. The ten locomotives in this lot were built over a four year period, as although officially classified as ‘new builds’ (allowing the Company to recover the costs from the Government Loan Guarantee scheme), they were largely rebuilds of earlier Star Class locomotives. The original locomotive names were retained, but new numbers in the Castle class series were allocated. 4-6-0 40XX (Star) class No 4068 ‘Llanthony Abbey’ had originally been built at Swindon Works in January 1923 as part of lot 217. The locomotive was withdrawn from service in November 1938 requiring a heavy over-haul and replacement cylinders. The frames, wheels and motion were reused. New cylinders with the diameter increased to 16” raised the tractive effort at 85% from 25,000 lb to 31,625 lb (Power class D). Above the frames the Castle class standard boiler with outside steam pipes and a larger cab were fitted. The rebuilt locomotives had a maximum axle load of 19 tons, 14 cwt, which restricted these Castle class locomotives to main lines and a few branch lines (Route colour – Red). See 'Engine Map' for more details.

No 5088 was initially allocated to Shrewsbury shed (SLP), but in March 1942 was transferred to Stafford Road shed outside Wolverhampton (SRD). This was the principle northern Division shed for stabling express locomotives for both the main line to Paddington and the cross country route to the West Country. No 5088 was allocated to Stafford Road shed until finally withdrawn in September 1962, having completed 1,047,102 miles as a Castle class locomotive. The locomotive was cut up at Swindon Works.

No 5088 is seen here with 4,000 gallon Collett pattern tender No 2717 (lot A141 of 1937), which was paired with the locomotive from June 1958 to June 1960.

Robert Ferris

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