No. 4073 Caerphilly Castle
Once its showpiece duties on the GWR stand in the Palace of Engineering at the British Empire Exhibition were over, class prototype No. 4073 was allocated to Old Oak Common as its first shed before transferring to Bristol Bath Road in July 1950. Later allocations saw it move to St Phillips Marsh Road (October 1952), Bristol Bath Road again (February 1953) and finally Cardiff Canton (February 1957).
Originally due for withdrawal in 1955, it received an overhaul at Caerphilly Works between August 1956 and January 1957, after which it continued in service until its time finally came in May 1960, having run 1,910,730 miles in service.
It was refurbished at a cost of £11,000, initially for displaying at Swindon, but it was handed over to the Science Museum as part of the National Collection. A ceremony took place at Paddington station that saw the formal handover made by Dr Richard Beeching on June 2, 1961, after which No. 4073 was taken to the museum at Kensington with the aid of Pickford Scammel Constructor units.
It remains in the almost pristine ex-works condition of when it was handed over to the National Collection from BR, and despite being withdrawn so soon after an overhaul, it has never steamed in preservation. There are presently no plans for this to change and so it remains on display in the STEAM museum at Swindon.
No. 5029 Nunney Castle
Taking the name of a small castle near Frome in Somerset, No. 5029 was built in 1934 and became something of a ‘poster child’, appearing in many publicity and
