GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hatton Bank: gwrhb1474

Ex-Great Western Railway 4-6-0 60xx ‘King’ class No 6014 ‘King Henry VII’ climbs Hatton Bank on the down main line with the 5:10pm Paddington to Wolverhampton express circa 1955. No 6014 was built at Swindon Works in May 1928 as part of lot 243. In March 1934 this locomotive was streamlined with a bullet nose, wedge shaped cab front, cylinder skirting, straight name plate and a tender cowl, but most of these fittings had been removed by 1943. One remaining legacy of this streamlining experiment was the unique positioning of the train reporting number bracket below the smokebox door (to avoid interfering with the bullet nose attachment). In 1934 this locomotive was known to be allocated to Slough shed (SLO) and in December 1947 prior to nationalisation was allocated to Old Oak Common shed (PDN). In September 1957, No 6014 was fitted with a double chimney to improve boiler draughting and the fuel economy of the locomotive. No 6014 was withdrawn in September 1962 from Stafford Road shed in Wolverhampton (84A) and scrapped in March 1963 by Cox & Danks of Langley Green, Oldbury.

Robert Ferris

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