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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton
Hatton Bank: gwrhb1482
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Ex-Great Western Railway 2-8-0 30xx class ROD No
3028 progressing slowly up Hatton bank on the down relief line with a heavy
train of iron ore hoppers from the OIC quarries near Banbury. The new bridge
brickwork is from where the overbridge collapsed following a heavy winter rain.
These locomotives became known as the RODs because they were built for
the Railway Operating Division (R.O.D.) of the Royal Engineers for service in
France in the later stages of the First World War. They were based on the Great
Central Railway's 2-8-0 8K class locomotives designed by JG J.GRobinson. No
3028 was built in 1918 by the Nasmyth, Wilson & Co Ltd (with works No 1281)
and given the number No 1725 by the Railway Operating Division. With the end of
the war in November 1918 surplus ROD engines were initially stored and then
offered for sale. No 3028 was purchased by the Great Western Railway in June
1925 as one in a batch of eighty engines bought from the ROD at the discounted
price of £1,500 per engine.
This locomotive was originally given the number No 3024, but
after a few months operation was withdrawn to Swindon for assessment and an
overhaul which included being fitted with a new MB boiler with a
copper firebox, Swindon superheater, top feed and Great Western Railway pattern
safety valve, but like the other ROD engines retained its steam brake. When
this overhaul was completed in September 1926 this engine was renumbered No
3028 and placed into service. No 3028 was known to have been allocated to Neath
shed (NEA) in January 1934 and prior to nationalisation, in December 1947, was
allocated to Croes Newydd shed (CNYD). This locomotive was allocated to
Stourbridge Junction shed (84F) in April 1952. No 3028 was withdrawn from Oxley
shed in Wolverhampton (84B) in August 1956 and scrapped in the same year at
Swindon Works.
Robert Ferris
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