GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Leamington Spa - BR Locomotives: gwrls153

An unidentified and grimy ex-WD 'Austerity' 2-8-0 passes through the station on a down iron ore train circa 1949. The Austerity 2-8-0 was based on the LMS Class 8F, which until that point had been the government's standard design for the War Department. Various modifications were made to the 8F design by RA Riddles including a boiler of simpler construction which was parallel rather than tapered and a round-topped firebox rather than a Belpaire firebox. A total of 545 were built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, and 390 by the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows with many seeing service with the British Army in mainland Europe after D-Day.

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