GWR Route: Stratford on Avon to Honeybourne

Stratford-on-Avon Racecourse Platform: gwr_src1431

Ex-Great Western Railway 4-6-0 49xx ‘Hall’ class No 6971 ‘Athelhampton Hall’ crossing the lattice girder bridge adjacent to Stratford-upon-Avon Racecourse with the 9 10 am Snow Hill to Cardiff express. Circa 1960. No 6971 was one of the modified Halls redesigned by Collett’s successor as CME - Mr F. Hawkesworth. The modifications affected the cylinders and superheating arrangements and allowed what had been a highly successful design to steam more freely with the inferior fuel then available. The locomotive was built at Swindon Works in October 1947 as part of Lot 366 and was the first locomotive to be allocated the new pattern straight sided tender, which had a 4,000 gallon water and 7 ton coal capacity. At nationalisation (January 1948), No 6971 was allocated to Bath Road shed in Bristol (BRD).

With the demise of steam power on the railways, No 6971 was withdrawn from Tyseley shed (2A) in October 1964 and scrapped in January 1965 by Cashmore in Great Bridge. In the foreground on the Up Line is an Automatic train control (ATC) ramp. The ATC system was introduced by the Great Western in 1906 and by 1930 was installed on all principle routes and 2,500 engines. It was designed to expedite operation when signals were obscured by fog, but also acted as a warning in clear weather. The ramp activated an audible warning in the cab (either a bell or siren depending on the position of the associated distant signal) and in addition if the signal was set to danger a valve was opened to apply the brakes unless the resetting handle was operated.

Robert Ferris

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