GWR 4936 Kinlet Hall
GWR 4936 Kinlet Hall is down at the Severn Valley Railway until September, whoopee So it was an ideal opportunity for me to take some photos of this glorious looking machine.
Originally built in 1929 at the GWR’s Swindon works to a design by Mr. C.B. Collett. Great Western Railway Hall class locomotive No. 4936 was one of a class that would eventually number 330, the Hall was designed as a general purpose engine and during a career spanning 30 years, carried out sterling work for the Great Western Railway and British Railways.
Covering the length and breadth of the GWR network. She led a nomadic existence, being initially allocated to Chester and transferring to Shrewsbury , Wolverhampton, Oxford, Banbury, Old Oak Common, Truro, Plymouth and Cardiff.
Kinlet Hall ended her career with British Railways in South Wales on December 28th 1963 and was eventually sold as scrap on 15th January 1964 to Messrs Woodham Brothers at Barry Island. However after languishing in the scrap yard for 20 years the locomotive was bought by a consortium in 1979 and the long road to restoration began. The first successful steaming of the locomotive for 36 years occurred on 16th February 2000, at Tyseley, West Midlands and ‘Kinlet Hall’ achieved a remarkable return and mainline certification on 8th June 2000.
