Number 4979 "Wootton Hall" is one of an illustrious line of named locomotives of the Great Western Railway.
The class was the standard mixed traffic design on the GWR, handling express passenger and heavy goods trains.As befits a jack-of-all-trades, it had a varied career with the Great Western and British Railways, serving in the West Country, the Midlands, South Wales, London and Oxford. It is seen here in a photo by Eric Scholefield, at Bristol Temple Meads station in the early 1950s, when Mr Scholefield was a photographer with the Royal Air Force.
It came into Furness Railway Trust ownership in 1994, when members heard it was up for sale. There had been a feeling that our fleet lacked a large tender engine, and this purchase filled that gap.
For
the first 12 and a half years in FRT ownership, the locomotive was stored
at the Lytham Motive Power Museum. However, in March 2007 it was moved to
a new storage site at the Appleby Heritage Centre, where it now resides right
alongside the Settle to Carlisle Railway Line! Much of the cost of the move
was sponsored by the Lytham Motive Power Museum, which has aspirations to
reopen in the future.
4979 has had to take its place in the restoration queue behind first Furness Railway Number 20, and its fellow Swindon stablemate, Number 5643. However, this does not mean it has been left to rust: a small team, led by Keith Brewer, visits "Wootton Hall" most weekends to carry out preventative maintenance. It is intended full scale restoration will start once the Trust has secured its own Museum and Workshop.
Great Western Railway Chief Mechanical Engineer Charles Collett produced the "Hall" class as a development of the earlier "Saint" class of his predecessor George Jackson Churchward.
The "Halls" were the standard mixed-traffic locomotive on the Great Western, equally at home with express passenger trains and lengthy, heavy goods workings. Indeed, at its last shed, Oxford, "Wootton Hall" was in a pool of engines that were expected to rush up to London with fast passenger workings, potter around on local passenger trips, and plod to south Wales with goods trains, and even sit around as station pilot, able to take over any duty if a passing locomotive failed.
The success of the design is evidenced by the number built (330), over such a long period of time (1928-1950).
Our particular engine entered traffic in February 1930, and gave almost 34 years of service before being withdrawn in December 1963. As mentioned above, it had its fair share of shed allocations, taking in Plymouth Laira, Penzance, Tyseley in Birmingham, Severn Tunnel Junction and Cardiff Canton in South Wales, and ended its days in the London Division of the Western Region of British Railways, based at Southall, Reading, Didcot and finally Oxford in July 1958.
It was withdrawn in December 1963, and, like 5643, was sold to the Woodham's scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. It escaped the cutter's torch, because of Woodham's policy of scrapping old railway wagons first, this being more profitable work. But unlike 5643, an quick release from Barry wasn't on the cards for "Wootton Hall"; it languished there until 1986, leaving to be moved to the Fleetwood Locomotive Centre in Lancashire.
Once at Fleetwood, little was done to the locomotive, and it was word went round it was up for sale in early 1994. Rumour quickly reached members of the Furness Railway Trust, who were able to raise the money for the purchase price.
Because "Wootton Hall" is not on the priority restoration list, the decision was taken not to move it to the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway, but instead to a private site in Lancashire. So it was on the 20th August 1994 that it was moved by road south from Fleetwood, passing along the promenade at Blackpool en route!
Now safely stored, a small team led by Keith Brewer has begun the remedial work necessary to fend off the ravages of time and the weather, before proper restoration can begin.
Despite
this, the Trust has started to amass some of the missing parts that will be
required once this restoration begins in earnest. This is a sensible policy:
many items found on Great Western Railway engines were standardised, and so
it has sometimes been possible to get something for "Wootton Hall"
at the same time as purchasing a similar part for our 0-6-2T
5643, for less than we would have to pay were we to order the two fittings
separately.
And we have kept our eyes open for other one offs: for example, the FRT has obtained this GWR safety valve bonnet and clack cover for use on "Wootton Hall". This was purchased from a local collector.
 |
Now why not read about "Cumbria",
the Furness Railway Trust's workhorse locomotive? |
|
 |
You can find out more about our current big project, former Great Western Railway Number 5643. | |
 |
"Fluff" was our very first engine. It's been out of use for a number of years but has now undergone cosmetic restoration. |
Home Search Site About us FR No. 20 Our Engines Vintage Train Gifts L.R.S. Live Steam Furness Railway L&HR & links
©Furness Railway Trust 2008