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4930 Hagley Hall in Service
4930 Hagley Hall is a GWR Collett 4900 Hall Class locomotive. The Hall class was a mixed traffic locomotive, serving a similar role on the GWR to that carried out by the Stanier ‘Black 5’ on the LMS. Stanier worked for the GWR before moving to the LMS, and the Black 5 drew on many of the Hall’s design features.
Like the Black 5, the Hall was rated 5MT by BR post-nationalisation; although its wide cylinders meant it was mainly restricted to ex-GWR routes.
4930 was built in May 1929 at the GWR’s Swindon Works and entered service at the Wolverhampton Stafford Road Depot. It was withdrawn from service by BR at Swindon in December 1963 after a working life of 1,295,236 miles. The locomotive was acquired by Woodham's scrap yard at Barry in May 1964.
4930 Hagley Hall in Preservation
4930 was bought by SVR(H) in June 1972 and was moved from Barry to Bewdley on 6th January 1973. It entered service 6 years later in 1979 following restoration.
In September 1979 it double headed with fellow SVR locomotive LMS 5000 from Hereford to Chester and return with the SVRA “The Inter-City” charter.
4930 hauled the official reopening train for Kidderminster Town Station on 30th July 1984. It made a number of other mainline appearances, notably a storming double-headed run with 7819 Hinton Manor over the South Devon banks during the GWR 150 celebrations in 1985.
4930 was withdrawn from service in October 1986 following failure of several boiler stays. It has not steamed since, spending the intervening years in store and on static display at the Designer Shopping Complex (sited on the former GWR Swindon Works), and latterly in The Engine House at Highley. It was moved from there to Bridgnorth on Sunday 6th October 2013 for the long-awaited overhaul to begin.
4930 is still owned by SVR(H), but has its own support group, the Friends of Hagley Hall.
4930’s sister locomotive 4936 Kinlet Hall has visited the SVR on several occasions.
Its current overhaul will also allow it to run with the correct Collet style tender rather than its Hawksworth style one following an exchange with the custodians of 6990 Witherslack Hall.
Sources
Friends of Hagley Hall Retrieved 23 January 2015