GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Warwick Station: gwrw2196

Ex-Great Western Railway 43xx class 2-6-0 No 6363 heads north through Warwick Station with a down class H unfitted freight train in the early 1950s. Despite the platforms being staggered the main station buildings were opposite each other with a subway connecting the two platforms. The signal box was opened in 1909 to replace two earlier boxes.

Locomotive No 6363 was built in April 1925 at Swindon Works as part of lot 230. A locomotive with this number was originally ordered in 1923 as part of lot 216, but at that time there was an urgent need to build 0-6-2T locomotives to replace the dilapidated locomotives inherited from the newly absorbed South Wales companies following the Grouping. As a result the last eight 43xx class locomotives from this lot were postponed, while a further fifty of the class were ordered externally from the locomotive builders Robert Stephenson and Co.

The 43xx class was designed for mixed traffic duties by Great Western Railway’s Chief Mechanical Engineer George Churchward and they proved to be very versatile locomotives, equally at home with heavy freight or fast passenger turns. Eventually 342 locomotives were built. The 43xx class utilised the standard No 4 boiler operating at 200lb pressure, initially with a two row / six tube superheater (DG type) and produced a tractive effort at 85% of 25,670 lbs (Power class D). Early 43xx class locomotives had an uneven weight distribution, but following the repositioning of the pony truck fulcrum the maximum axle weight was reduced to 17tons, 13cwt (Route availability Blue), which limited them to the main and some branch lines. No 6363 was built with outside steam pipes.

Locomotive No 6363 was originally allocated to Exeter Shed (EXE) and has been identified as one of the locomotives which operated on the Minehead and Barnstable branches with a tender fitted for automatic tablet changing. In January 1934 No 6363 was known to have been allocated to Swindon Shed and prior to nationalisation, in December 1947 was allocated to Reading Shed (RDG) and was known to have been allocated there in August 1950. The locomotive was withdrawn from Didcot Shed (81E) on 7th September 1964 having recorded a mileage in excess of 1,207,740 miles (note mileages creased to be recorded after 28th December 1963).

Robert Ferris

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