GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Warwick: gwrw382

Ex-GWR 2-6-0 43xx class Mogul No 7301 passes through the station on a down one-coach railcar trailer service in June 1951. Built by R Stephenson in December 1921 it remained in service until September 1962 when it was withdrawn from Bristol Street shed, Philips Marsh to be scrapped in November 1962 at Swindon works. Not all of the locomotive ended up as scrap iron as one of the cabside plates was purchased prior to scrapping by Malcolm Garner, a visitor to the website. Designed by GJ Churchward, the class was introduced in 1911 with 342 being built up to 1932 and were initially numbered No 4300 to No 4399, No 5300 to No 5399, No 6300 to No 6399 and No 7300 to No 7321. The 43xx Moguls were the maids of all work on the GWR network, and later the Western Region of British Railways. Employing a Standard No 4 boiler and the support struts similar to those fitted to the '28xx' class, the class very quickly earned an excellent reputation in its ability to handle most types of traffic, from local stopping goods to main line expresses. After the first twenty locomotives were built, the frames of subsequent engines were lengthened by 9 inches at the rear to give better access for maintenance as well as providing more room in the cab. In 1932, C Collett modified the original design and introduced No 93xx to No 9319 with side window cabs, outside steam pipes and a screw reverse, and its one of this series we can see above. After passing into British Railways ownership, the Collett locos No 9300 No 9319 were modified back to light buffer beam design and were renumbered No 7322 to No 7341 between 1956 and 1959. Of the 342 engines built only two have been preserved, No 5322 (ex-8322) built in 1917 and No 7325 (ex-9303) built to Collet's design in 1932.

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