The Great Western Railway steam locomotive no. 4965 ''Rood Ashton Hall'' is a 4-6-0 Hall class locomotive. It is preserved 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 ...

. The engine operates in its Great Western Railway green livery, and performs regularly on the ''Shakespeare Express'', operated by

Vintage Trains Vintage Trains is an operator of heritage railtours in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Birmingham Railway Museum Trust, and is based at Tyseley Locomotive Works, the trust's other subsidiary. Mainline locomotives Vintage Trains opera ...

, between

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and Stratford-upon-Avon, as well as various excursions.

History

This locomotive was previously identified as 4983 ''Albert Hall'', having been rebuilt in 1962 using parts from both original engines ''Albert Hall'' and ''Rood Ashton Hall''. Both locomotives had their numbers stamped onto their respective parts. The purchasing group of enthusiasts thought they were buying 4983 ''Albert Hall'' but after later restoration discovered some of the parts had been stamped 4965 and some 4983. ''Rood Ashton Hall'' now has plates and numbers on one side that say 4983 ''Albert Hall'' for enthusiasts to see once again but still hauls ''Rood Ashton Hall'''s original tender. ''Albert Hall'''s original tender was a large Collett tender, so the only incarnation of 4983 ''Albert Hall'' and tender is Hornby's tri-ang model. 4965 and 7760 Tyseley

In November 2008, ''Rood Ashton Hall'' was taken out of service for overhaul after hauling the ''Rood Ashton Hall Farewell'' train from

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...

Didcot Parkway Didcot Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire, England. The station was opened as Didcot on 12 June 1844 and renamed Didcot Parkway on 29 July 1985 by British Rail to reflect its role as a park and ride railhead. ...

. The engine's 10-year overhaul took just a few months due to an ongoing programme of maintenance work that had been previously carried out during periods of low main line activity. It returned to the mainline in October 2009 and completed its full ten-year operating certificate before being withdrawn again in September 2019 for a further overhaul, which it awaits. Right before being withdrawn in 2019, the engine was temporarily renamed Polar Star, and was used to pull the

Polar Express ''The Polar Express'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1985. The book is now widely considered to be a classic Christmas story for young children. It was praised for its detai ...

Train Ride between Birmingham Moor Street and

Tyseley Tyseley is a district in the southern half of the city of Birmingham, England, near the Coventry Road and the districts of Acocks Green, Small Heath and Yardley. It is located near the Grand Union Canal. Etymology Tyseley means "Tyssa's cleari ...

, albeit having a

headlamp A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for ...

mounted on the center of the

smokebox A smokebox is one of the major basic parts of a steam locomotive exhaust system. Smoke and hot gases pass from the firebox through tubes where they pass heat to the surrounding water in the boiler. The smoke then enters the smokebox, and is e ...

door. With the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic and the engine still being out of service awaiting overhaul, the 2020 Birmingham ride was canceled. The engine complete with tender can be seen in the final 30 seconds of the 1958 black and white film "The Key" starring

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

and Sophia Loren as it pulls out backwards from the railway station. The old British Railways logo has been blacked out on the tender but the name plate "Rood Ashton Hall" is clearly visible.

References

External links

Vintage Trains
4965 Railway locomotives introduced in 1929 4965 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain 4-6-0 locomotives {{UK-steam-loco-stub