GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Hockley Station: gwrhd3887

Ex-British Railways 4-6-0 Castle class No 7029 ‘Clun Castle’ passes Hockley Station on the Down Main line with the Ian Allan ‘Zulu’ enthusiast special from Paddington to Birkenhead on Saturday 4th March 1967. This was final day of steam on the GWR line north of Birmingham. No 7029 was one of the last batch of ‘Castles’ to be built, being completed at Swindon in May 1950 for a cost of £11,640. It represented the final development of the class incorporating modifications made in the late 1950s. Outwardly, the only indication of enhanced performance is the double chimney, but internally the boiler has a four-row superheater and improved draughting arrangements. No 7029 was allocated to Newton Abbot shed (83A) for most of the locomotive’s service life, being transferred to Gloucester shed (85B) in May 1965 from where the locomotive was withdrawn in December 1965. No 7029 travelled just over 618,073 miles (this was the figure in December 1963 when BR stopped recording steam locomotive mileages).

In January 1966 No 7029 was purchased for preservation by Mr P Whitehouse for its scrap value (£2,400) and became the flagship locomotive of the Birmingham Railway Museum which was based at the old Tyseley shed site. From here the locomotive operated steam special excursions until restricted by the main line steam ban introduced by British Railways in 1968. This ban was lifted in June 1972, from which time the locomotive resumed operating main line steam excursions, including hauling the last train from Moor Street Station before this was closed in 1986. At the end of 2001 the locomotive’s boiler certificate ran out and following a heavy general overhaul in the Tyseley Locomotive Works, No 7029 was finally recommissioned in October 2017.

Robert Ferris

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