GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Lapworth Station: gwrl1437

GWR 2-8-0 28xx class No 3837 approaching Lapworth on the Up Main Line with a through freight of mostly mineral open wagons. This locomotive was built at Swindon Works in January 1942 in response to Government requirements for more heavy freight locomotives. The original 28xx class design was updated, given outside steampipes, short safety valve bonnets and whistle shields. At the end of the War a shortage of good steam coal lead to an experiment with oil burning as an alternative to coal and No 3837 was one of twenty of this class to be converted. The conversion took place on June 1947 and the locomotive was given a 1,800 gallon oil tank tender and renumbered No 4854. Although the experiment was technically successful the rising price of heavy fuel oil made the experiment uneconomic and No 4854 was reconverted back to coal in August 1949 and reverted to the original number.

Robert Ferris

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