GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Leamington Spa - BR Locomotives: gwrls3902

Great Western Railway 0-6-2T 56xx class No 6671 in Leamington Spa Engine Shed on Saturday 3rd April 1965. The end of mainline steam was near and chalk numbers and letters have replaced both the Smokebox Number (6671) plate and Shed Code (2L) plate. Leamington Shed closed on 14th June 1965 and No 6671 was reallocated to Banbury Shed (2D) before being withdrawn from there in October 1965.

The 56xx class locomotives were designed to replace the obsolete 0-6-2T locomotives of the South Wales companies absorbed in the Grouping of 1921. The wheel arrangement had been found ideal for moving the heavy coal trains down the steep valley railway lines from collieries to docks. The 56xx class locomotives were fitted with a GWR standard No 2 boiler operating at 200 lb pressure which gave a tractive effort (at 85%) of 25,800 lbs (power group – D). The maximum axle weight of 18 tons, 17 cwt limited the locomotives to main lines and a few branch lines (route colour – Red). In total two hundred 56xx class locomotives were built between 1924 and 1928 with the last fifty (6650 – 6699) being built by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd at their Scotswood Works in Newcastle upon Tyne (lot 255).

Locomotive No 6671 was built by Armstrong Whitworth Ltd and together with Nos 6670, 6672, 6673 and 6674 arrived at Swindon Works on Friday 14th September 1928. These five locomotives were all initially allocated to Cathays Shed (CYS) at Cardiff and were transferred there before the end of the month. During the 1930s 133 of the 56xx class locomotives (including all those with numbers above 6600) were fitted with Automatic Train Control (ATC) and the ATC contact shoe can be clearly seen on No 6671 in the photograph. A small number of 56xx class locomotives had initially been allocated to English Sheds for short haul heavy freight duties, but the number in the Midland Division steadily increased as the South Wales coal traffic declined. In November 1946, No 6671 was allocated to St Phillips Marsh Shed (SPM) in Bristol and moved to Worcester Shed (85A) in September 1961. No 6671 was allocated to Leamington Spa Shed (84D) in January 1962.

Robert Ferris

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