4936 Kinlet Hall

The engine was built for the Great Western Railway in June 1929 at Swindon Works at a cost of £5,209 which included £1,167 for the boiler and £834 for the tender.

When new, 4936 was paired with a 3500 gallon tender, but exchanged it for a 4000 gallon tender in 1938. The engine was first allocated to Chester but then had a succession of deployments. After Chester it was to be found based at Shrewsbury, Oxley, Wolverhampton (Stafford Road) before going to Oxford in 1933.After this it was moved to Banbury and then Old Oak Common before moving to the West Country at Truro.and then Plymouth Laira.

Whilst at Plymouth in 1941 a heavy bombing raid took place and Kinlet Hall was severely damaged when it fell into a bomb crater. Although there was extensive damage to the bogie and main frames the locomotive was repaired due to the shortage of motif power at the time. The repairs were carried out at Newton Abbot. Kinlet Hall still carried within its frames evidence of the extent of work required.

BR motive power depot allocations since 1948.

Date Arrived	Depot
January 1948	Truro
October 1954	Plymouth Laira
December 1958	Newton Abbott
May 1962	Cardiff Canton
August 1962	Cardiff East Dock

In September 1961 4936 was placed in store which lasted until it moved to Cardiff in May 1962.

Kinlet was withdrawn from service in January 1964 having covered 1,339,061 miles whilst in service and sold as scrap to Woodham Bros of Barry where it arrived in June 1964.

The Kinlet Hall Locomotive Co Ltd was formed in 1979 to purchase and restore 4936 to working order. It was purchased and transferred to Peak Rail, Matlock in May 1981, but moved to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, Toddington in March 1985, then Llangollen in October 1992. The next move, to Tyseley its present home, occurred in December 1996.

The first successful steaming for 36 years took place at Tyseley Locomotive Works in February 2000. Following a light trial run from Tyseley to Stratford and then an evening loaded test run from Birmingham Snow Hill to Worcester Shrub Hill, including a climb up the gruelling Old Hill Bank in June 2000, Kinlet achieved National Rail mainline certification.

Following certification for main line operation it made several main line trips to various parts of the country, sometimes in company with fellow Tyseley resident 4965 Rood Ashton Hall. In October 2001 Kinlet Hall hauled the second of two “Lickey Banker” runs up the legendary Lickey Bank ably assisted by Tyseley stable mate GWR Pannier 0-6-0 Number 7760 as banking engine. More recently Kinlet Hall has run popular excursions to Chester for the races. It has visited several of its former homes in preservation, returning to Llangollen in June 2001, and to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, for much of the 2004/2005 operating season.

In 2006 it was fitted with on-train monitoring recorder (OTMR) equipment at Tyseley, and a full retube was undertaken during the first part of 2007. In December 2007 the engine moved to the East Lancs Railway where it performed regularly until March.

The fitting of OTMR has allowed it to provide motive power for various mainline excursions, including Vintage Trains’ Shakespeare Express and the Three Choirs Express excursion, double-heading with 5029 Nunney Castle.

After being displayed at the Tyseley Open Day in October 2009, it was dismantled over the winter for a thorough overhaul, which was completed in around 20 months. The engine was on display at the Tyseley Open Days in June 2011, and test running on the main line commenced shortly afterwards. The locomotive spent time on the Dartmouth Steam Railway between June and October 2012 hauling regular service trains on the line alongside the DSR’s own fleet of locomotives. It then moved to the West Somerset Railway from the Dartmouth Steam Railway in October 2012 via the mainline. In 2013 it was again hauling railtours on the main line.

In 2015 a five year hire to West Somerset Railway was agreed with the owners.

After being taken out of service the overhaul of the locomotive at Tyseley commenced in November 2016 when the boiler was lifted off the frames.

By September 2017 the driving and boggie wheels had been sent to Williton on the West Somerset Railway for shotblasting and repainting. The tender is also at Williton for overhaul to its frames. The boiler was under overhaul at Tyseley. It was hoped that the engine would be re-wheeled by the end of 2017.

By the later part of 2017 the expectation was that the locomotive would be returned to steam in time for the Tyseley open day in October 2018.

By the middle of 2020 the expectation was that the locomotive would back in service in 2021.