GWR 4900 Class 4979 Wootton Hall

GWR 4900 Class 4-6-0 No. 4979 Wootton Hall is a steam locomotive. It was built at Swindon, February 1930, and was one of 258 Hall class steam locomotives constructed.

Its first shed allocation was Plymouth Laira and after 32 years of service it ended up at Oxford. During this time it was allocated to sheds in Penzance, Tyseley, Severn Tunnel Junction, Cardiff Canton, and ended its days in the London Division of the Western Region of British Railways, based at Southall, Reading, Didcot and finally Oxford in July 1958. It was used for a variety of duties including fast passenger service and freight.

It was withdrawn from service in December 1963 and acquired by Woodhams' Scrapyard, Barry, June 1964cite web|url=http://www.greatwestern.org.uk/m_in_hal_hall49b.htm|title='Hall' class details, 4950 - 4999|work=The Great Western Archive|accessdate=2008-05-02] .

Preservation

Of the 259 Hall Class locomotives built, only 11 have been preserved. No. 4979 was one of several Halls salvaged from Woodhams' Scrapyard. It was sold to Fleetwood Locomotive Centre in Lancashire, and left as the 179th departure from Barry in October 1986.

In 1994 it was purchased by Furness Railway Trust and stored at Lytham Motive Power Museum. In March 2007 it was moved to a new storage site at the Appleby Heritage Centre where preventative maintenance is being carried out until it can be fully restored.cite web|url=http://www.furnessrailwaytrust.org.uk/other4979.htm|title=Great Western Railway 4-6-0 4979 "Wootton Hall"|work=Furness Railway Trust|accessdate=2008-05-01]

References

External links

* cite web
url=http://www.applebyheritagecentre.org
title=Appleby Training and Heritage Centre
* cite web
url=http://www.miac.org.uk/honeybourne2.htm
format=Photograph
title=4979 at Honeybourne
date=1963