GWR Route: Stratford on Avon to Honeybourne

Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse Platform: gwr_src1428

Ex-Great Western Railway 2-6-0 43xx class mogul No 6359 passes a desolate Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse Platform in January 1959 with a northbound Class H unfitted through freight train. There was no restriction on the type of axle boxes on wagons in Class H trains and no requirement for a specific proportion of the train to comprise of vehicles with vacuum brakes, as a result these trains were limited to a maximum speed of 25 mph. and an intermediate examination was required every 125 miles. A 43xx class engine had the capacity to haul up to 308 tons on this route (if stopping at Stratford-upon-Avon), while the refuge siding lengths restricted the train length to a maximum of 60 standard wagons. No 6359 was built at Swindon Works in November 1923 as part of Lot 216.

The 43xx class was classified for Blue routes and proved to be very versatile, becoming known as ‘maids of all work’. As a result they were built in large numbers from 1911 until 1932, when the larger 4-6-0 ‘Hall’ class locomotives started to replace them. The class eventually totalled 342, but there were several design variations to the class, with those in Lot 216 being the last to be built with inside steam pipes (diagram M). In 1934 locomotive No 6359 was allocated to Banbury shed (BAN) and in 1948, at Nationalisation, was allocated to Didcot shed (DID). No 6359 was withdrawn in September 1959 from Hereford shed (85C) and scrapped in December 1959 by Cashmore at Newport.

Robert Ferris

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