GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Bentley Heath Crossing: gwrbh1617

Great Western Railway 2-4-0 '3232' class No 3237 with an express headcode speeding past Bentley Heath circa 1910-13. At least three of the carriages have destination boards on their roofs. The first of these is the second coach (in chocolate and cream livery) which appears to be a brake third with two or three compartments, while the first carriage may have been a strengthener, added to increase the train's capacity, as it is an unganged clerestory coach with eight compartments. Locomotive No 3237 was built at Swindon Works in October 1892 as part of Lot 90. This class was a development of the 2201 class and were initially employed on light express trains to Weymouth, South Wales and North to West routes. When the Great Western introduced their engine map, these locomotives were designated in the lowest ‘ungrouped’ power class and their driving wheel axle weight of 14 tons (yellow route) allowed them to operate on all, but the uncoloured routes.

Prior to December 1907, this locomotive had a parallel round boiler, but after that date, a 10 foot 10 inch belpaire boiler (B4 design) was fitted as seen in this photograph. In February 1914 another Swindon standard parallel round boiler was fitted and this locomotive was the last of the class to carry this S4 boiler type, the last boiler of this type being fitted in 1921, which it carried until August 1923, when another belpaire (B4 design) was fitted. In January 1921 No 3237 is known to have been allocated to Stafford Road Shed (SRD) in Wolverhampton and was also allocated there in May 1922. By this time these locomotives had been downgraded to secondary duties on branch lines and milk trains. In March 1928, No 3237 was withdrawn from Gresty Lane Sub Shed in Crewe and scrapped.

Robert Ferris

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