GWR 4900 Class
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The Great Western Railway 4900 Class or Hall Class is a class of
4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...
mixed-traffic
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...
s designed by
Charles Collett Charles Benjamin Collett (10 September 1871 – 5 April 1952) was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941. He designed (amongst others) the GWR's Castle and King Class express passenger locomotives. Education ...
for the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
. A total of 259 were built at
Swindon Works Swindon railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. History In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of the ...
, numbered 4900–4999, 5900–5999 and 6900–6958. The
LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0 The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 5 4-6-0, commonly known as the Black Five, is a class of steam locomotives. It was introduced by William Stanier and built between 1934 and 1951, of which 842 were built and were numbe ...
and
LNER Thompson Class B1 The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Thompson Class B1 is a class of steam locomotive designed by Edward Thompson for medium mixed traffic work. Overview It was the LNER's equivalent to the highly successful GWR Hall Class and t ...
both drew heavily on design features of the Hall Class. After nationalisation in 1948,
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
gave them the
power classification A number of different numbering and classification schemes were used for the locomotives owned by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and its constituent companies; this page explains the principal systems that were used. The followi ...
5MT.


Background

By the end of 1923 the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
(GWR) was well served with express passenger locomotives of the
Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
and
Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
classes and had recently introduced the Castle Class. However, the mixed-traffic
2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. ...
locomotives of the 4300 Class were beginning to struggle with the increasing loads.
George Jackson Churchward George Jackson Churchward (31 January 1857 – 19 December 1933) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1922. Early life Churchward was born at ...
had recognised this with the introduction of the 4700 class
2-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels. ...
with driving wheels, intended for express goods and relief passenger trains. However,
Charles Collett Charles Benjamin Collett (10 September 1871 – 5 April 1952) was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway from 1922 to 1941. He designed (amongst others) the GWR's Castle and King Class express passenger locomotives. Education ...
preferred the idea of a Saint Class with smaller wheels to undertake these duties as this would provide a leading
bogie A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
. He therefore rebuilt number 2925 ''Saint Martin'' with driving wheels.


Prototype

The prototype of the new class was rebuilt in 1924 and the cylinders were realigned in relation to the driving axle and a more modern 'Castle'-type cab was fitted. ''Saint Martin'' emerged from
Swindon Works Swindon railway works was opened by the Great Western Railway in 1843 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It served as the principal west England maintenance centre until closed in 1986. History In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of the ...
in 1924 and embarked on three years of trials. During this period Collett introduced other modifications such as changing the pitch of the taper boiler and adding outside steam pipes.


Production

After extensive trials during 1925–1927, Collett was satisfied with the performance of his prototype, subject to minor amendments and placed an order for eighty more with Swindon works (Lot 254) in 1928. The prototype was renumbered 4900 in December 1928 and the new locomotives were numbered 4901-80 and appeared at regular intervals until February 1930. They were named after English and Welsh
country houses An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
with 'Hall' in their titles and so became known as the 'Hall Class'. They differed little from the prototype; the bogie wheel diameter had been reduced by two inches from to and the valve setting amended to give an increased travel of . The overall weight of the locomotive had increased by to but a tractive effort of compared favourably with the of the 'Saint'. The original locomotives were built with Churchward tenders but after 4958 Collett's larger types became standard although a few later locomotives were fitted with smaller tenders if these were available as they entered service. The first fourteen examples were despatched to the arduous proving grounds of the
Cornish Main Line The Cornish Main Line ( kw, Penn-hyns-horn Kernow) is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. It directly ...
. They were so successful here and elsewhere on the GWR system that by the time the first production batch had been completed a further twenty were on order (Lot 268, 4981–99 and 5900). Further orders followed throughout the 1930s and early 1940s. By 1935, 150 were in service and the 259th and last Hall, No. 6958 ''Oxburgh Hall'', was delivered in 1943. Thereafter further deliveries were of the '6959 Modified Hall' class.


Oil firing

Eleven Hall class locomotives were converted to oil-firing in the period 1946–1950. While in this condition they were renumbered into the 3900 series. When the oil-firing was removed, they reverted to their old numbers.


Performance

As indicated by their continuing production, the Hall class proved to be very successful in a variety of different roles from goods work to passenger services, although barred from several cross-country and branch lines because of their red weight classification. According to Peter Herring, 'they were the first true mixed traffic locomotives, and as such precursors of the Stanier 'Black Five', Thompson B1 and BR Standard 5MT
4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...
.' (However, while they were forerunners of these highly successful and numerous 4-6-0 types, there were several successful
2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. ...
and
4-6-0 A 4-6-0 steam locomotive, under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives by wheel arrangement, has four leading wheels on two axles in a leading bogie and six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles with the abse ...
‘mixed traffic’ types on the GWR and other British railways before them, - not least the
GWR 4300 Class The Great Western Railway (GWR) 4300 Class is a class of 2-6-0 (mogul) steam locomotives, designed by G.J. Churchward for mixed traffic duties. 342 were built from 1911–1932. Background In 1906 Churchward fitted a more powerful Standard No. ...
they were designed to replace.)


Modified Hall Class

Although the GWR had been at the forefront of British locomotive development between 1900 and 1930, the 1930s saw a degree of complacency at Swindon reflected in the fact that the design had largely originated in the 1900s and had not fundamentally changed since the mid-1920s. Collett was replaced by
Frederick Hawksworth Frederick William Hawksworth (10 February 1884 – 13 July 1976), was the last Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway (Great Britain) (GWR). Early career Hawksworth spent his entire career at the Swindon Works of the GWR. ...
in 1941 who created a modified version of the design, known as the Modified Hall Class. These continued to be produced by
British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
until 1950, by which time there were a further seventy-one locomotives.


Accidents and incidents

*On 30 April 1941, 4911 ''Bowden Hall'' took a direct hit during a bombing raid on the Keyham area of
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
and was later broken up. The locomotive had stopped at a signal box because of an air raid, and the crew survived by sheltering under the steps of the signal box. 4911 was one of two GWR locomotives damaged beyond repair in Britain during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the other was GWR 1854 Class No. 1729. 4936 ''Kinlet Hall'', ran into a bomb crater in that area and was severely damaged, but was repaired. *On 13 February 1961, 6949 ''Haberfield Hall'' was in collision with a freight train that was being shunted at , due to a signalman's error. Three people were killed and two were injured. *On 25 August 1962, a passenger train stopped at
Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...
, due to the failure of the locomotive hauling it. 4932 ''Hatherton Hall'' was hauling a passenger train that overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with it. Twenty-three people were injured.


Withdrawal

All but one of the original Collett Halls survived until nationalisation in 1948, the exception being 4911 ''Bowden Hall''. Withdrawals began in 1959 with the prototype ''Saint Martin''. Its accumulated mileage, both in its original form and rebuilt form, was a remarkable 2,092,500 miles. Further withdrawals of the production series took place during the 1960s and the class was extinct by 1965.


Preservation

By 1965 the last Hall had been withdrawn from the Western Region without a single one entering the National Collection. Eleven examples of the Hall class have survived to preservation with all being rescued from Barry Island Scrapyard, seven of which have run in preservation. The first member of the class to be rescued from Barry Scrapyard was 4965 ''Rood Ashton Hall'' being rescued in Oct 1970 leaving as the 10th departure, the engine was at this point originally assumed to be 4983 Albert Hall as parts on the engine were stamped 4983 but was later discovered during its restoration to be 4965. The last original hall to be rescued from Barry Scrapyard was 5967 ''Bickmarsh Hall'' being rescued in Aug 1987 leaving as the 187th departure.http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/barrygwr.htm Western engines rescued from Barry Scrapyard Of the engines which haven't yet operated in preservation, 4942 ''Maindy Hall'' has been "regressed" back to a GWR ''Saint'' Class, 4979 ''Wootton Hall'' is undergoing restoration at the
Ribble Steam Railway The Ribble Steam Railway is a standard gauge Heritage railway, preserved railway in Lancashire, in the United Kingdom. It was opened to the public on 17 September 2005, running along Preston, Lancashire, Preston Docks. The railway began by h ...
with work currently focusing on the engine's tender, 5952 ''Cogan Hall'' is under cosmetic restoration at
Tyseley Locomotive Works Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter Vintage Trains based in Birmingham, England. It occupies part of the former Great Western Railway's Tyseley depot, built in 19 ...
with a small number of parts being used in the construction of 6880 ''Betton Grange'' and 5967 ''Bickmarsh Hall'' is undergoing restoration at the
Northampton & Lamport Railway The Northampton and Lamport Railway is a standard gauge heritage railway in Northamptonshire, England. It is based at Pitsford and Brampton station, near the villages of Pitsford and Chapel Brampton, roughly north of Northampton. Overview ...
. Of the remaining seven Halls which have run in preservation, all six of the UK-based engines have been operated on the main line: 4930 ''Hagley Hall'', 4936 ''Kinlet Hall'', 4953 ''Pitchford Hall'', 4965 ''Rood Ashton Hall'', 5900 ''Hinderton Hall'' and 5972 ''Olton Hall''. 5972 ''Olton Hall'' has gained fame as the locomotive used in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. 4920 ''Dumbleton Hall'' has operated previously in preservation but is now on static display in
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as part of the new
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attraction in Tokyo which opens in 2023. As of September 2022 two halls are operational but neither are mainline certified. 4936 Kinlet Hall is undergoing a
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
standard overhaul at
Tyseley Locomotive Works Tyseley Locomotive Works, formerly the Birmingham Railway Museum, is the engineering arm of steam railtour promoter Vintage Trains based in Birmingham, England. It occupies part of the former Great Western Railway's Tyseley depot, built in 19 ...
.


See also

*
List of GWR standard classes with two outside cylinders George Jackson Churchward created for the Great Western Railway a family of standard classes of locomotive, based on a limited set of shared dimensions and components, and his principles were followed by his successors. Most of these locomotives ...


References

* * * *


External links


Great Western archives - Hall classFriends of Locomotive 4930 Hagley Hall4936 Kinlet Hall Group
{{Authority control 4900 4-6-0 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1928 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain 2′C h2 locomotives Mixed traffic locomotives