GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hatton Bank: gwrhb1467

Ex-Great Western Railway 0-6-0T 57xx class No 7702 on the down main line with a Leamington to Stratford-upon-Avon local on 6th May 1953. Built for the Great Western Railway by Kerr Stuart (Works No 4437) in February 1930, No 7702 was part of a batch of twenty-five engines under Lot 263. Two hundred and fifty 57xx class engines were built by outside firms between 1929 and 1931 under a Government Scheme to alleviate the effects of the economic depression. The design was very similar to the pannier tank engines rebuilt from saddle tank engines at the end of the nineteenth century and several of the new engines were built with polished brass safety valve covers, including No 7702. These fittings were painted over soon after delivery. No 7702 was known to be allocated to Llanelly shed (LLY) in 1934 and Leamington shed (LMTN) in December 1947. No 7702 was withdrawn from Leamington shed (84D) in September 1960 and was scrapped in June 1961 by D. Woodham at Barry docks. The first coach is a 70 foot auto-trailer (diagram U) which had accommodation for 70 seated passengers in two open vestibules. The twelve auto-trailers of this diagram were all built in August and September of 1912 as lot 1198. They originally had gas lighting, but around 1930 this was replaced with electric lighting. Auto-trailers Nos 91 and 92 were both known to be allocated to Leamington around the time that this photograph was taken. No 92 was condemned in 1957 and is now preserved by the Great Western Society at Didcot.

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