GWR Mogul 7325
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7325 in service
7325 (formerly 9303) is a GWRGreat Western Railway 4300 Class 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotive. The 4300 class was a ChurchwardGeorge Jackson Churchward, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1902-1922 design first introduced in 1911, but this particular locomotive is one of a batch built in 1932 which incorporated design changes by ChurchwardGeorge Jackson Churchward, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1902-1922’s successor, Charles CollettCharles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941. These changes included the introduction of side window cabs, outside steam pipes, a screw reverse, 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 is often referred to on the SVRSevern Valley Railway as the “CollettCharles Benjamin Collett, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Great Western Railway 1922-1941 MogulLocomotive with a 2-6-0 wheel configuration”.
The locomotive first entered service in February 1932 as GWRGreat Western Railway number 9303, and began life allocated to Penzance. Between 1947 and 1950 the locomotive was allocated to Reading.[1]
In 1953, 9303 moved to Tyseley, followed by Banbury two years later. In 1958 No 9303 was renumbered by BRBritish Rail or British Railways as 7325, who also modified the locomotive to remove the additional buffer beam weight in order to increase its route availability. After further allocations to Ebbw Junction (Newport) and Severn Tunnel Junction, 7325 was withdrawn from service at Pontypool Road in July 1963.[2]
7325 in preservation
The locomotive arrived from Barry Scrapyard on 13 August 1975. Although the owning group The Great Western (SVR) Association customarily refer to the locomotive by its earlier number 9303, the locomotive first entered service in <tba> as no 7325.
7325 last saw service in August 2000 and is presently on display in The Engine House, still numbered 7325. The Association's web site states “The plan is to replace the missing weight at the next overhaul so that it can once again run as 9303, a true Great Western engine.”
See also
References
- ↑ GWR Archive Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ↑ BRDatabase Retrieved 28 January 2015.
