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| Paddington 26th September 1961, 6989 in charge of the 11:15 Worcester service. Photo R.J. Blenkinso |
Taken at Gloucester Horton Road Shed. Photo RJ Stevenson.
The
history of 6989 "Wightwick Hall"(Revised May 2011).
In
1944 F. W. Hawksworth of the Great Western Railway introduced an improved version of the Hall class 4-6-0 introduced by his
predecessor, C. B. Collett. The locomotive was classified as 6959 Modified Hall Class 5MT 4-6-0. Changes to the 5900 Hall
engines were; plate frame 'one piece' mainframes (the originals were made in two sections joined together behind the cylinders),
plate frame bogie, separately cast cylinders and a larger 3-row super-heater and header regulator. New flush-sided tenders
were paired with the engines, although these soon became swapped round as visits to the works for repair took place. 6989
ran with at least 10 different tenders and we have pictures of her in service with both Hawksworth flat sided and Collett
flare sided types.
The Hall class was a development of G. J. Churchyard’s 1907 Saint class, so the original
design was now on its third iteration. In all 71 Modified Halls were built between 1944 and 1950, of which 5 are in preservation.
7927 “Willington Hall” was used as a donor for "Betton Grange" and "County of Glamorgan".
The rest of the Modified Halls were cut up and scrapped.
“Wightwick Hall”, was built at Swindon under
Swindon Works Lot Number 366 and was completed on 25th March 1948. She entered service the same month with British Railways
Western Region based out of Hereford, to replace one of the Saints that was withdrawn. She was the second last steam locomotive
to be commissioned(ordered)by the Great Western Railway Company before British Railways took over under nationalisation. She
cost £9,686 to build, including the tender.
She was out shopped in lined G.W.R. green livery with “British
Railways” in capitalised G.W.R. style letters on the tender. This is confirmed by Angus Brymer, who was a cleaner at
Hereford where she was assigned ex- Swindon and a picture we have of 6989 at Tyseley in 1949. The following account sheds
some light as to perhaps why she was not in B.R. black, as might have been expected. (1) Around February 1948 B.R. gave instructions
to Swindon that by the end of that week no more green paint was to be made in the Swindon Paint Factory. Five hundred gallons
of brunswick green was hurriedly made to beat the deadline and stored in unlabelled 5-gallon drums. Hence, when B.R. (WR)
engines needed repainting and the drums were opened, they were found to be green and not the expected black. Having opened
the drums they had to be used! We have a picture taken in September 1956 by Dick Blenkinsop at Leamington Spa, where he confirms
she was in B.R. black. (2) According to observations recorded at Swindon Shed in September 55, class 6959 engines were being
turned out post overhaul in brunswick green, whereas non modified halls were being repainted black. Most of the pictures we
have of her show her sporting a smoke box number and shed plate, but we have one taken at Birmingham Snow Hill without these
and showing the number painted on the buffer beam in Great Western style. Our conclusion is that she left Swindon Works in
green, was repainted black at the heavy general overhaul in October 1950 and back to green at the intermediate repair in September
1956. We have a photograph of her on Swindon Shed in lined brunswick green that we believe was taken after the heavy general
repair of 6 March 1961.
”Wightwick Hall” covered 640,645 miles in her short 16 years of service with
British Rail. She operated in an area mainly bounded by Cardiff, Paignton, Banbury and London, working in the fast freight
and express passenger role. She spent 10 years working out of Hereford (shed code 85C), 4 years out of Worcester (shed code
85A) and finally 2 out of Gloucester Horton Road (shed code 85B). We have sightings of her in most of these areas. Her
career was not without drama. When based at Hereford she was working the 11:55 Hereford to Paddington train on 4th June 1956
when she went over a 15mph speed restriction at 45mph with no apparent ill effects! The crew probably did not get off so lightly.
During November and December of 1959, when allocated to Worcester shed, 6989 alternated with sister engine 6984
“Owsden Hall” on the “Cambrian Coast Express” between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. “Owsden
Hall” is also preserved and is under restoration at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway. We are informed by
Geoff Peverill, who was a loco fitter at Worcester that 6989 substituted on top runs for failed Castles on several occasions.
This is endorsed by David Taylor of Bromyard who uncovered a published article (3) relating the occasion in May 1961 when
she did a very fast run from Oxford to Paddington of 58 minutes, including a speed restriction running into Paddington.
6989 regularly worked the “Cathedrals Express”. We were able to borrow the original wooden pattern for
“The Cathedrals Express” headboard and had a new one cast. This went missing for a number of years, but thanks
to some detective work by Dusty Miller, it is now firmly back in our possession.
She often worked into Wembley
on football or hockey specials. We have a picture of her at Neasden Junction on the occasion of the Schoolboy International
held at Wembley on 30th March 1957. During the same month 6989 was pressed into service on the “Cornishman”, filling
in for a failed castle. During the dying days of steam in September 1962, 6989 was taken off a goods train to replace the
failed D1000 "Western Enterprise", which was only 9 months old at the time, on a Birmingham to Paddington
express.
Eventually, the shed was unable to keep her gainfully employed and she was withdrawn in June 1964. She
was sold to Woodham Brothers Scrap Yard in Barry South Wales on 17th July 1964. 6989 made her last journey on B.R. metals
as part of a special train from Gloucester to Barry on 6th August 1964 in company with 6960 "Raveningham Hall",
7F No 53809 and Class 48xxxx No 48431. She then spent 13 years 5 months languishing in the salt air of Barry, before being
rescued by the Quainton Railway Society. She was the 88th engine to leave Barry to go into preservation. Mike Lawrence Low
Loaders moved her to Quainton. Mike recollects she was the 5th of over 80 engines he liberated from Barry.
The
“Wightwick Hall” Appeal Fund was launched in 1975 and by 1977 had raised the money to buy the engine and a Collett
pattern tender that was last coupled with 7927 “Willington Hall”. (6) The Collett tender that 6989 went into Barry
with was acquired by the Great Western Society when it bought 5051 "Drysllwyn Castle/Earl Bathurst" and left Barry
on 14th February 1970. The ex “Willington Hall” tender arrived at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre on 24th July
1977. “Wightwick Hall” finally arrived at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre Quainton on 9th January 1978.
(4)(5) The locomotive is named after Wighwick Hall, which is located near Wolverhampton. The 17th century part of
Wightwick Manor was for a period known as Wightwick Hall, but as it was expanded by the Mander family it was renamed Wightwick
Manor; thereby allowing the building that was built in the 1890s for Sir Alfred Hickman, MP and industrialist, to adopt the
name Wightwick Hall. The Hall became a Special Needs school in 1956 and remains so today.
Reference sources:
(1) Bill Peto Great Western Society Limited.
(2) Trains Illustrated, Vol 8, No 11, page 483, November 1955.
(3) Steam Days 1995.
(4) Around Tettenhall and Codsall, by Mary Mills.
(5) David Bennett.
(6) P Chatman Heritage
Railway Issue 126 page 41.
Technical Details:
Engine:
Swindon Works Lot Number 366.
Class
Modified Hall.
Wheel arrangement 4-6-0.
Driving wheel diameter 6 feet.
Wheel base 27 feet 1 inch.
Weight
75 tons 16 hundredweight.
Number of cylinders 2.
Valve gear – Stephenson (piston valves).
Cylinder dimensions
18.5 inches diameter, 30 inches stroke.
Boiler Type 1, serial number now 9296. As new 9241. Boilers 9236, 9281, 9264
and 9269 also fitted at various times.
Boiler pressure 225 pounds per square inch (at 85% boiler pressure).
Heating
surface 2,104 square feet.
Fire grate area 27.1 square feet.
Ash Pan – 3 hopper.
Tractive effort 27,275
pounds.
Tender:
Coal capacity 6 tons.
Water capacity 4,000 gallons.
Weight 46 tons 14 hundredweight.
Tender No as new 4048.
Tender No on disposal 2938.
Current tender last coupled with Willington Hall.
Tender and Engine:
Engine and tender overall weight 121 tons 7 hundredweight.
Engine and tender overall length
63 feet.
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Document search:
David Taylor of Bromyard has been
clearing his large collection of magazines spanning many years. He is diligently checking them for references to, or pictures
of, 6989 before he disposes of them. Thanks David. If anyone else feels so inclined we will be delighted to hear from you.
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CONNECTIONS WITH 6989
If
you have any connections in any capacity with 6989 contact Jeff Jackson - our historian on:
wightwickhall6989@sky.com Alternatively,
drop him a line to:
Jeff Jackson
6989 Restoration Group
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
Quainton
Road Station
Quainton
Nr Aylesbury
HP224BY
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