Great Western Castle Class 4-6-0 Locomotives in the Preservation Era

By David Maidment and Bob Meanley

This third volume in the series on the Great Western Castle class locomotives focuses on the eight that have been preserved and goes into depth on the reconstruction of three of them, the two Tyseley ones, 5043 and 7029 described by Bob Meanley and Didcot’s 4079 recounted by David Maidment from the records of the Great Western Society, including the full story of 4079’s prolonged stay in Western Australia, its return to the UK and subsequent restoration. The history of all eight is covered and copiously illustrated, including over 100 color photographs, with many during the restoration work by Bob Meanley and in operation by David Maidment. The book includes records of their operation and performance since restoration when some of the most remarkable performances of these locomotives were achieved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Aug 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9781399022675

David Maidment

David Maidment was a senior manager with British Railways, with widespread experience of railway operating on the Western and London Midland Regions culminating in the role of Head of Safety Policy for the BRB after the Clapham Junction train accident.He retired in 1996, was a Principal Railway Safety Consultant with International Risk Management Services from 1996 to 2001 and founded the Railway Children charity (www.railwaychildren.co.uk) in 1995. He was awarded the OBE for services to the rail industry in 1996 and is now a frequent speaker on both the charity.

Book preview

PREFACE & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Great Western fans are fortunate that so many of their locomotives ended their days in the Woodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry and were thus available for rescue and restoration. Eight Castles survive – three preserved straight out of traffic at their withdrawal from service – 4073, 4079 and 7029. Five more have been recovered from Barry, four of them restored to operation – 5029, 5043, 5051 and 5080 – with just one still awaiting overhaul and restoration – 7027. The amount of material available has made it possible to produce this volume purely about these eight preserved locomotives. I am particularly grateful to Richard Croucher who gave me access to his files on 4079, including the full story of its time in Western Australia and its return to the UK, and to Drew Fermor for the telling of its overhaul since; to Peter Chatman and Mick Dean for much of the material about the restoration of 5051 and Adrian Knowles for some of the photographs from the Great Western Echo magazine. Bob Meanley has written the chapters on the overhaul and restoration of 5043, 5080 and 7029 and supplied many of the photos illustrating these chapters.

I am also grateful to Paul Shackcloth, who gave me access to photos in the Manchester Locomotive Society archive and allowed me to use them free of any publication fee as I am donating, as is my custom, all the royalties to the Railway Children charity (www.railwaychildren.org.uk) which I founded in 1995 and which supports street and runaway children picked up on railway and other transport terminals of the world – at the current time in India, East Africa and the United Kingdom. I have tried to trace and contact the copyright holders of all the photographs but if I have missed anyone, please get in touch with the publisher so I can make amends.

I am also grateful to John Scott-Morgan, friend and Commissioning Editor of Pen and Sword, Carol Trow my editor and Janet Brookes and the Pen and Sword design, production and marketing team for their encouragement, support and professionalism. I commend the book to all those who have enjoyed seeing or travelling behind these locomotives in their preservation years, some who may remember them in BR days and to those of you still looking forward to the experience of hearing, seeing and smelling these magnificent beasts once again.

My last Castle run before the end of BR steam was with 7029 on the special train from Preston to Carlisle to Hellifield on 14 October 1967. In the preservation era, I have had many runs with 4079, 5029, 5043, 5051 and 7029, the most recent being with 5043 on the ‘White Rose’ from Tamworth to York on 12 December 2015. I cover their story up to 2020 when unfortunately the coronavirus lockdown caused a hiatus in my personal acquaintance with the Castles, although it allowed me the time to complete all three volumes about them. I have tried to establish the current situation of each of these machines in the autumn of 2021. I look forward to meeting 4079, 5029, 5043, 5051 and 7029 once again – and possibly 5080 too. Perhaps looking towards 7027 is being too optimistic at my age!

David Maidment

May 2023

Due to a certain age difference, I never had the good fortune to have many of the experiences of Castle class engines which David enjoyed, and I have to confess that I never saw one on Old Oak Common shed in steam days, but I have had the immense good fortune to have become deeply involved with half of the remaining examples for a period of over thirty-five years. Having been born in LM West Coast territory at Tamworth, I grew up watching Coronations, Princesses, Scots, Jubilees and many others large and small. The fascination with Castles started at Christmas 1957 with the arrival of a Hornby Dublo Bristol Castle, and quickly accelerated with the discovery of the magical place known as Birmingham Snow Hill station. My involvement with preserved steam started in 1967 and for quite a period mostly centred around LMS locomotives, until being drawn into the then Birmingham Railway Museum via Jubilee Kolhapur. Of course, it was impossible not to become involved with all of the Castle class engines which were there at that time, and for almost forty years they have now become very familiar acquaintances. At Tyseley, we have been fortunate to muster sufficient facilities to give a small rendition of a true locomotive works, and more importantly have managed to assemble a young but highly skilled team to operate it. That has not been an easy task because it has to be remembered that in order to replicate the sort of major overhauls which Swindon carried out in the hundreds every year, it is necessary to possess access to every skill, machine and tool which Swindon possessed, otherwise the task is impossible. It was not achieved overnight and owes much to many people. Firstly, to Pat Whitehouse whose connections made the establishment of Tyseley possible, and to Jim Kent, whose huge engineering foresight lead to the establishment of the first workshop and the acquisition of essential machines and tools which are still in use every day. Of course, none of this could have happened so successfully without the many former railwaymen, engineers, managers, enginemen and artisans who gave their time and passed on their knowledge in order to ensure the long-term survival of steam. Without all of them there would be no section in this book on returning many of the surviving Castles to steam; indeed, all we might have had was a cold 4073 in a museum somewhere to look at and wonder.

We also need to acknowledge the contribution made by those who ensured that necessary technical information, particularly drawings and specifications, survived and perhaps the foremost of these was the late Ernie Nutty, who seemed to take every opportunity to download his encyclopaedic knowledge of Great Western locomotives and Castles in particular. It is safe to say that what remains of this technical information has never been so easily accessed and that is due in no small measure to the efforts of the custodians of the Great Western Society’s collection, overseen for many years by Ted Lacey and more recently Kevin Dare.

Speaking as someone who began to understand the Castles just as the last of them were disappearing, it has been a privilege to have been able to have become so deeply involved with them to the point where they are daily acquaintances, and to have been able to gain so much first-hand knowledge of just what magical machines they really are. But time moves on. It has now been fifty-six years since 7029 was withdrawn from traffic, and yet it is still working and being looked after by a new generation who were born long after the end of BR steam, gratifyingly led by my son Alastair who has become a true Castle aficionado. There are also other young men championing the cause with 4079 at Didcot, 5029 at Crewe, and 7027 at Loughborough, so it does appear that the final chapter on the working history of the Castle Class may still be some way off. Long may that continue.

Bob Meanley

May 2023

INTRODUCTION

The pioneer, 4073 Caerphilly Castle, was restored and sent to the Science Museum in May 1960 and 4079 Pendennis Castle and 7029 Clun Castle were purchased from active BR stock in the 1960s. In subsequent years, 5029 Nunney Castle, 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, 5051 Earl Bathurst, 5080 Defiant and 7027 Thornbury Castle have all been rescued from the scrapyard and their story from the end of steam in BR service to the current time of writing (2021) is covered in this book. Earlier volumes published in 2022 by Pen & Sword, The Great Western Castle Class 4-6-0s, 1923-1959 and The Great Western Castle Class 4-6-0s, The Final Years 1960-1965, cover their design, construction, operation and performance in Great Western and British Railways (Western Region) days and an assessment of their performance and impact on express locomotive development in the UK was summarised in the second of these.

Since the extinction of the class in regular BR traffic at the end of 1965, they have continued to demonstrate their prowess not just on their former own territory but have expanded their realm on many railtours and special workings to the North Wales Coast, the Northern Fells of both Shap and Ais Gill, Scotland East and West Coast, the East Coast Main Line and the Southern Region to Salisbury. One (5043) has replicated 5000’s 1926 experience by appearing at Euston, another (7029) recalled memories of 4079 in 1925 at King’s Cross. 4079 spent twenty-three years in one of the remotest areas of Western Australia. They have returned for overhaul at Swindon Works and in the private heritage railway workshops at Tyseley and Didcot.

They have performed with distinction on the main line too, not satisfied with the records broken in traffic in the 1930s and 1950s. Despite some initial problems with foreign coal, they have excited train performance enthusiasts with such exploits as 5043 beating 7029’s record Plymouth-Bristol record of 1964 or its epic runs over Shap and Ais Gill, including producing the highest power output ever recorded by a Castle when storming over Ais Gill summit with over 500 tons in October 2010, with a calculated edhp of 2,030 – in terms of power per square foot of grate, the highest ever recorded by a British locomotive. Then again, recreating the Bristolian of the late 1950s running the 118 miles in 109 minutes 58 seconds (106 net) without exceeding 80mph. Rivalry between the Tyseley restored engines is to be anticipated now that 7029 has been returned to traffic and we look forward to it being planned to run over the Shap and Ais Gill routes to see if it can match or even beat 5043’s achievements. And it will be interesting to see if a single chimney Castle, 5080, can equal the power and speed of the double-chimney pair of Castles when Tyseley have had the opportunity to give it an equally thorough overhaul.

The effort and achievement of these momentous performances is due to many people, especially the bands of volunteers led by Drew Fermor, Peter Chatman and Richard Croucher at Didcot and Bob and Alastair Meanley at Tyseley. Their stories are told here too, by Bob himself and by the Didcot people through access to their files and articles written in their own magazine, the Great Western Echo and other media.

Chapter 1

THE PRESERVED CASTLES IN BR SERVICE

7029 Clun Castle, the last Castle in BR service, was formally withdrawn in December 1965 but was observed on a few Banbury freight turns at the beginning of January 1966. It was a busy engine in 1965, however. After its triumph on the 9 May 1964 Ian Allan special, it was well occupied with a number of railtours and valedictory events as well as occasionally gracing the 4.15pm Paddington-Banbury. Known 1965 railtours were:

24 January: Farewell to Castles Birmingham–Bristol via Oxford