PRACTICE & PERFORMANCE EXTRA
Farewell to ‘Kings’, reprised
Sixty years ago in April 1963, and four months after the class had been withdrawn, there was to be one last ‘King’-hauled railtour until the main line preservation era began in the 1970s. John Heaton FCILT describes the ‘readeption’ of King Henry VI.
WHEN the last of Collett’s 1927 ‘King’ Class 4-6-0s was withdrawn in December 1962, the vast majority of railway followers thought they would never see their like again powering along the routes of the former Great Western Railway.
But the very next passenger run by a ‘King’ was to be only a few months away, as one of the final batch of withdrawals – No. 6018 King Henry VI – was surprisingly restored to full running order to work a Stephenson Locomotive Society charter from Birmingham Snow Hill to Swindon Works via its former racing ground through Bicester then Greenford, Southall and the Bristol main line.
The loco was removed from store at Old Oak Common in March 1963 and sent to Swindon Works for repairs and a repaint, emerging on April 18 and heading for Wolverhampton Stafford Road shed, then Tyseley the next day. Unbeknown to many, the ‘King’ worked a six-coach running-in turn on April 22-25, the 6.05pm Birmingham to Leamington local, while on the 26th it had a boiler wash and inspection ready for the tour.