4936 Kinlet Hall was built for the Great Western Railway in June 1929 at Swindon Works. 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.
4936 was allocated back to Truro in June 1947, before moving to Laira in November 1954 and Newton Abbot in December 1958. 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Kinlet was withdrawn from service in January 1964 having covered 1,339,061 miles whilst in service and sold as scrap to Woodham Bros of Barry where it arrived in June 1964.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 certification for main line operation, it made several main line trips to various parts of the country.
Since then, it has visited several railways, including the Llangollen, Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, West Somerset Railway, Paignton and Dartmouth and the East Lancs Railway.
Locomotive Status: Non-Operational
Undergoing overhaul
ADDRESS
West Somerset Railway,The Railway Station,
Minehead Somerset,
TA24 5BG
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