Changes

|othernos = 9303, [[TOPS codes|98425 (TOPS)]]

|years2 = 1992|events2 = Entered SVR service|years3 = 2000|events2 events3 = Withdrawn for overhaul

'''7325 (formerly originally numbered 9303)''' is a GWR 4300 Class 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotiveintended for mixed traffic duties including cross country passenger services, long goods, parcels and excursion trains.

==7325 in service==Having introduced a range of standard locomotives designed for heavier services, GWR CME George Jackson Churchward asked his lead draughtsman Harold Holcroft to produce "...''a 2-6-0 with 5 foot 8 inch wheels, outside cylinders, the No. 4 boiler and as many standard parts as could be used''". The resulting 4300 class was a Churchward design first introduced appeared in 1911and proved successful with 322 built by 1925, but this particular locomotive is one sometimes incorporating detailed differences. A final batch of a batch 20 built in 1932 which incorporated further design changes by Churchward’s successor, Charles Collett. These changes included the introduction of side window cabs, outside steam pipes, a screw reversereverser, and a weight attached to the buffer beam to place more weight on the leading pony wheels and reduce wear on the leading driving wheels. As a result of these modifications, this locomotive 7325 (originally 9303) is often referred to on the SVR as the “Collett Mogul”"Collett Mogul".  Moguls (not including those with Red axle load restrictions) operated excursions on the Kidderminster – Bewdley – Stourport triangle from the 1930s. In the late 1950s 4 moguls were allocated to Kidderminster shed to work trains from Alverley Colliery to Stourport and Buildwas and sugar beet trains to Foley Park<ref>GWR(SVR)A appeal leaflet</ref>. ==9303/7325 in service==

7325 arrived at [[Barry Scrapyard]] in November 1964. It was one of only two members of the class preserved and the only "Collett mogul" (the other, No. 5322, being an early Churchward example which saw service in France during World War I with the British Army's Railway Operating Division and which is now preserved at the Didcot Railway Centre). In mid-1972 the newly-formed Great Western Locomotive and Carriage Society made '9303' its first target for preservation.<ref>SVR News 25</ref> The following year the Society merged with the Great Western Rolling Stock Fund to become the [[Great Western (SVR) Assoc. |The Great Western (SVR) Association]]. By spring 1974 volunteers were working on the locomotive at Barry, with the purchase being finalised in May 1974 with the aid of a loan in order to avoid a price increase proposed by Dai Woodham in June of that year.<ref>SVR News 31, 32, 87</ref> The locomotive arrived from [[Barry Scrapyard]] on 13 August 1975 in convoy with [[GWR 2857 Heavy Goods Loco|GWR 2857]].<ref>SVR Stock Book Ninth Edition(SVR News 36 states 20 August)</ref> In Autumn of that year a [[:Category:SVR fundraising lotteries| raffle organised by the SVRA Stourbridge Branch]] helped raise funds for the purchase of locomotive,<ref>SVR News 39</ref> while in 1982 another [[:Category:SVR fundraising lotteries|SVRA raffle]] was held to raise funds for work on the boiler and tender.<ref>SVR News 63</ref> A further [[:Category:SVR fundraising lotteries|raffle organised by the SVRA Stourbridge Branch]] was held in spring 1988.<ref>SVR News 89, 90</ref>

The small restoration team at Bewdley was headed by Pete Simpson who was also responsible for the restoration of [[4566]] and [[5164]]. Restoration of the mogul began in earnest once those locomotives were completed in July 1975 and October 1979 respectively.<ref>SVR News 87,157</ref> In 1982 another [[:Category:SVR fundraising lotteries|SVRA raffle]] was held to raise funds for work on the boiler and tender which were to be done as a contract job at Bridgnorth,<ref>SVR News 63</ref> and a further [[:Category:SVR fundraising lotteries|raffle organised by the SVRA Stourbridge Branch]] was held in spring 1988.<ref>SVR News 89, 90</ref> The locomotive was re-wheeled in July 1988<ref>SVR News 90</ref> and the boiler put back in the frames in 1989, with restoration continuing as funds permitted.<ref>SVR News 93</ref> Although the owning group [[Great Western (SVR) Assoc. |The Great Western (SVR) Association]] customarily refer to the locomotive by its earlier number 9303, the locomotive first entered SVR service in summer 1992 as no 7325.

Having entered service in 1992, it was anticipated that 7325 last saw service would be in use until 2002. However the locomotive succumbed to a severely leaking boiler in August 2000 and during [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 2000-2009#2000|that year’s ‘boiler crisis’]].<ref>SVR News 134</ref> Following a quick cosmetic restoration the locomotive was placed on display exhibition at the Steam Museum in Swindon, initially for ‘a couple of years’.<ref>SVR News 136. N.B., this was the Museum itself, not the adjacent Shopping Centre later occupied by 4930 and 7819</ref> In late 2005 the SVR announced that the locomotive would return in time for the planned opening of [[The Engine House]] from its opening in May 2007.<ref>SVR News 152</ref> After the delay due to the [[2007 Storm Damage]], 7325 was eventually shunted into the Engine House on 16 March 2008ready for the public opening five days later. <ref>SVR News 161</ref> At the Engine Shed House the 'footplate' was accessible to allow visitors to climb aboard and learn how to operate a steam locomotive, and for weddings and civil ceremonies.