Status – August 2023

The page header on our Web site calls it “Churchward’s final masterpiece”, quite a claim considering that the GWR only built nine 47XX. Purpose designed and built to haul heavy food trains from the west, south west and south Midlands into the London region, the 47XX was big, strong and as time showed, not only ideally suited to the task in hand, but several other key assignments as well. One example of its utility was the 47XX being recorded hauling holiday specials, often in excess of 75 m.p.h.

The entire class had been broken up long before the swingeing scrapping of steam paved the way for dieselisation, so what better preservation project than to re-create just one 47XX. And so, 4709 was born.

That was a decade and a half ago and 4709’s gestation has proved surprisingly difficult, even in the challenging world of steam preservation. This includes the impact of COVID, supplier insolvencies and missed deadlines.

That notwithstanding, building 4709 has inched forward. In 2021, a pair of new cylinder castings were finally delivered, machined and now wait the completion of the loco’s leading pony truck, suspension and braking system, before installation in the waiting frames.

Future work on 4709 will be focussed on three key areas; its motion, boiler and tender. The last item is deemed to be relatively straightforward, as a fully wheeled chassis is already earmarked and in store. The fabrication of a tank poses few challenges and it is hoped that work on this part of the project will commence in the 2024/5 timeframe.

The 4709 team already has a large portion of the necessary inside motion, much from donor locomotives. Fund raising is now underway to complete the set, sooner rather than later.

2022 saw a remarkable development in the re-creation of the 47XX; the hulk of 7027 - Thornbury Castle - became available, bringing with it a standard Swindon no. 8 boiler in surprisingly good condition.

While dimensionally very slightly different to the native no. 7 boiler used on the 47XX, under a crinoline, it would be very difficult to tell one from the other. Better still, if the initial inspection of Thornbury’s boiler was in any way accurate, a major overhaul would ready it for service for a fraction of the cost of a new boiler and several years earlier. A conservative estimate of the time and cost savings puts these at half a million pounds and at least five years.

Along with the boiler was Thornbury’s chassis and a shipping container loaded with components, from number and name plates, to a new safety valve assembly, rods and a mass of essential other items, all of which would cost a small fortune to re-create, or buy.

At the time of writing, the purchase of the hulk is almost complete financially and in order to both preserve and secure these critically important components, 7027 was moved alongside 4709 at Tyseley during August 2023.

While much of Swindon’s renowned standardisation will see many of 7027’s components utilised as 4709’s build progresses, much of the locomotive will not be required and it was announced earlier in 2023 that everything not required for 4709 including the chassis, could be re-purposed for the re-creation of a GWR Star.

So, 4709 continues to make slow, but steady progress. It is hoped that the preparation, machining and assembly of the front end will progress more rapidly as the final few items are delivered during the current year. Once complete, 4709’s chassis ought to be wheeled and if sufficient funds are by then available, that the boiler overhaul will be complete and join the other components in the frames late next year.