GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Olton Station: gwro1580

Ex-Great Western Railway 4-4-0 City Class No 3440 ‘City of Truro’ on a SLS Special passing a deserted Olton Station on the Up Main line in the morning of Sunday 4th September 1960. This train had left Birmingham Snow Hill Station at 9:15 a.m. on route for Swindon. The roof of the lower level 1933 main station entrance and booking office can be seen to the left of the relief platform canopy. No.3440 was built at Swindon Works as part of Lot No 141 in May 1903. Designed as an express passenger locomotive, No.3440 was infamous for the record-breaking run with an Ocean Mail express on 9th May 1904 (reaching 102.3 m.p.h. according to Mr Rous-Marten) during the descent from Whiteball summit to Taunton. The City Class was a development of the successful 4-4-0 Atbaras Class, but the Cities were given a tapered boiler, which improved the water circulation allowing higher boiler pressures and improved performance.

In September 1911 No.3440 also had superheating fitted. In an attempt to impose a unified power classification system, the Great Western Railway renumbered several classes of locomotives in 1913 and the City class became the 37xx class, with No.3440 becoming No 3717. No 3717 was known to have been allocated to the top link at Taunton shed in January 1921, but as this decade progressed and the train loads became heavier 4-6-0 locomotives took on these duties. No 3717 was withdrawn in March 1931, but in recognition of the record breaking run was sent to the National Railway Museum at York for preservation on 20th March 1931. City of Truro was restored to working condition in 1957 and again in 2010 (with the original number reinstated).

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