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GWR Pannier 5764
5764 at Bewdley
Built By	GWR Swindon Works
Configuration	0-6-0PT
Power class	4F by BR(W)
Status	Static display
Loco Number	5764
History
Built	1929
Designed By	Charles Collett
Type	GWR 5700
1971	Arrived on SVR in working order
1989	Re-entered service
2001	Re-entered service
2011	Withdrawn for overhaul
Technical
Length	31ft 2"
Weight	47t 10cwt
Tractive effort	22,515 lb
Pressure	200 lb/sq in
Steam Locomotives

5764 is a GWR Collett 5700 class 0-6-0PT ‘pannier tank’, one of two examples on the SVR (the other being 7714). The GWR 5700 class was the most numerous class of engine designed and built by the Great Western Railway; more than 860 were built between 1929 and 1950. Pannier tanks could be found at work all over the former GWR system and although designed primarily for shunting duties, they were regularly used on local freight and passenger workings. British Railways Western Region 'BR(W)' rated the class as 4F,, although elsewhere the class was rated 3F.

5764 in service

GWR / BR

5764 was built at Swindon and entered service in 1929 at London’s Old Oak Common depot. It remained at that depot post-War, serving the GWR and BR for more than thirty years. Duties involved local freight and shunting in the West London area as well as ECS working in and out of Paddington station.

Although allocated to London throughout its working life, 5764 was photographed in the early 1960s at Longville on the Much Wenlock branch with future SVR resident Inspection Saloon 80972. It was probably there on a running in turn after its last heavy overhaul which took place at the Wolverhampton Stafford Road works in February 1960. The locomotive returned to London following that overhaul, but was then withdrawn by BR in May 1960 having run an estimated 520,259 miles in service.

London Underground

BR sold a number of pannier tanks, including 5764, to London Transport who used them mainly to run PW and engineering trains on their Metropolitan Lines, operating from their Neasden Depot and also from Lillie Bridge, Kensington. While with London Underground, 5764 was allocated the number L95. By the end of 1963, recorded mileage had increased to 668,771.

5764 in preservation

The SVRA Kidderminster Branch set up a fund in 1970 to acquire one of the last three pannier tanks still in use at London Transport. 5764 was successfully purchased and was moved by road to Bridgnorth, arriving on 19 June 1971 and entering service still in LT livery the same year. An indication of how quickly it entered service may be judged by the lighting of a fire in the engine whilst it was being unloaded from the low-loader.

• 
  Arrival of 5764 (David Cooke)

5764 was repainted into GWR livery in 1972. During the next few years 5764 made appearances in the BBC television series Carrie's War in November 1973 and The Signalman in 1976. The early success of 5764 led the SVRA Kidderminster Branch to purchase a second pannier, 7714, in 1973.

In early 1977 a slipped tyre led to 5764 being withdrawn from service. In summer 1978, SVR News announced that another pannier, 3612, had been acquired from Barry to provide new wheels for 5764 as well as a spare boiler for 5764 and 7714.. After re-profiling on the Noble and Lund wheel lathe, the new wheels were installed and the locomotive re-painted in time for a return to service in mid-1979. One of the first duties was for the filming of the BBC TV series God's Wonderful Railway that year. In the following year she performed in Grenada TV's The Good Soldier.

5764 was withdrawn from service in 1982 awaiting a heavy overhaul. The locomotive was steamed again in early 1989; the first test movement in steam being an unusual sight because the tanks had not been fitted! By June of that year a full return to service had been achieved in time for an appearance in the summer steam gala. During the course of the 10 year ‘ticket’ that followed, 5764 spent 1993 on hire to the South Devon Railway. 1998 saw another television appearance in the TV movie Cider With Rosie; service ended later that year.

Following a boiler exchange made possible by the 1978 acquisition of a ‘spare’, 5764 entered a third period of service in summer 2001. Another 10 year ‘ticket’ saw 5764 withdrawn from service in January 2011. The locomotive then moved into The Engine House on display in May 2011, but was removed to make a guest appearance as a static exhibit at the Gloucester Warwickshire Steam Railway’s Broadway station in May 2013. It was then stored in Kidderminster Carriage Shed, making subsequent appearances as a static exhibit at Worcester Racecourse in 2015 and the 'Step Back to the 1940s' event in 2017.

On 20 June 2018 5764 was moved from storage in Kidderminster Carriage Shed to be put back on display in The Engine House. A move to Bridgnorth for a cosmetic repaint then took place on 16 November 2018. 5764 moved to the Engine House in her LT guise as L95 in March 2019.

• 
  5764 at Broadway in May 2013

The locomotive is owned by the SVR Pannier Tank Fund who also own GWR Pannier 7714.

See also

Steam Locomotives
SVR-based locomotives visiting other events
Locomotives running under different identities

Links

GWR 5700 Class on Wikipedia

Great Western Railway

The British Railways system of classifying steam locomotives by power using a number from 0, least powerful, to 9, most powerful, followed by either F for freight, P for Passenger or MT for Mixed Traffic.

British Rail or British Railways

Charles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941

Severn Valley Railway

The British Railways system of classifying steam locomotives by power using a number from 0, least powerful, to 9, most powerful, followed by either F for freight, P for Passenger or MT for Mixed Traffic.

Empty Coaching Stock

Permanent Way

Severn Valley Railway Association

London Midland & Scottish Railway

Southern Railway

London & North Eastern Railway