GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Olton Station: gwro2697

Ex-Great Western Railway 2-6-0 43xx class No 6385 about to cross the four road braced framework lattice girder bridge over the old turnpike road at Olton with an up local passenger train to Leamington in the 1950s. These 43xx class mogul locomotives were fitted with a Swindon Standard No 4 boiler operating at 200 lb producing a tractive effort at 85%, of 25,670lb, which placed the locomotives in power group D. Their maximum axle weight was 17 tons, 13 cwt, which restricted these locomotives to main lines and some branch lines (route colour – Blue). More information on the Great Western Railway locomotive classification system can be found in Engine Map. Even without a prototype the 43xx class locomotives had proved an immediate success and the versatility of these mixed traffic locomotives resulted in 342 43xx class locomotives being built between 1911 and 1932. Most 43xx class locomotives were paired with Churchward 3,500 gallon tenders in January 1934 this locomotive was paired with 3,500 gallon tender No 1786 of lot A79, which had been built in late 1910.

In 1921 there was limited capacity for building new locomotives at Swindon Works and the Great Western Railway placed an order for fifty 43xx class locomotives with an external manufacturer - Robert Stephenson & Co. Ltd of Darlington. Thirty five locomotives were constructed by the company including No 6385 (GWR lot 218) and the remaining fifteen were supplied in parts to Swindon for assembly (GWR lot 222). The contract price for the 35 locomotives was £459,128, which was almost double the cost of the same locomotive when built in-house.

No 6385 was completed in August 1921 and allocated initially to Swindon (Running) Shed before moving to Banbury shed (BAN). No 6385 was modified in April 1932 when outside steam pipes were fitted. In January 1934, No 6385 was known to be allocated to Reading shed (RDG) and in December 1947, prior to nationalisation, allocated to Worcester shed (WOS). No 6385 was withdrawn from Didcot shed (81E) in December 1963 having worked 1,189,199 miles, sold to A King and Sons Ltd of Norwich in February 1964 and cut up at Harford in June 1964.

Robert Ferris

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