GWR Large Prairie 4150
Contents
4150 in service
‘Large prairie’ tanks were a common sight on the GWR, with more than 300 built between 1903 and 1949 to the same basic design. The locomotives were designed to haul semi-fast and suburban passenger services to tight schedules, and were also used on medium distance freight services. A number of Large Prairies were allocated to Kidderminster and Shrewsbury sheds and were regularly used on the Severn Valley Railway in it declining years.
4150 was built at Swindon and entered service in June 1947. The first allocation was to nearby Stourbridge Junction shed (84F) where the locomotive would have worked local services towards Birmingham. 1953 to 1962 was spent in the West Country, mainly at Newton Abbot. The final allocation was to Severn Tunnel Junction where 4150, by then in run down condition, was used to bank heavy trains through the tunnel. The locomotive was withdrawn from service by BR in June 1965 after 18 years in service and sent to Barry Scrapyard.
Gallery
4150 in Swindon works in 1962
Date & location unknown
Date & location unknown
Date & location unknown
Date & location unknown
4150 in preservation
4150 was purchased at a cost of £2,750 from Barry in 1973 by The 4150 Fund. No 4150 left Barry in 1974 in company with No.7812 Erlestoke Manor, and was towed by a Class 25 diesel to Parkend on the Dean Forest Railway.
Restoration at Parkend proved impossible, and in 1977 the Fund’s shareholders voted to move 4150 to the SVR, with the locomotive arriving at Bewdley on 19 January 1978.
Restoration commenced following arrival in Bewdley Yard, but by the mid-80s fund raising and restoration progress had slowed considerably. In 2007 the Fund formed a new committee, and with renewed enthusiasm began a concerted effort to complete the restoration which had by then been in progress for more than 30 years. By 2014 a new bunker had been completed except for riveting and welding, and construction of new tanks was in progress.
Gallery
The bunker under construction.
Riveting of the bunker.
See also
References
SVR News
Severn Valley Railway Stock Book, seventh edition.
4150 Fund web site
Links
4150 Fund web site Retrieved 26 February 2015