Hagley Hall relaunched
THE Severn Valley Railway relaunched its flagship steam loco on September 9, when GWR ‘Hall’ No. 4930 Hagley Hall hauled its first passenger service for 36 years, following an overhaul that cost £1.4 million. At noon,
No. 4930 departed on the first of two return trips to Bridgnorth.
The 4-6-0 joined the roster for the line’s Autumn Steam Gala on September 15. It was withdrawn the following day after lineside fires – an issue which has also impacted other locos.
The issue
In a statement, the SVR said: “We cannot tell how each newlydelivered batch of coal will behave until we try it. The latest coal, from Kazakhstan, is a case in point. During the tail-end of 2021 we had Kazak coal which was observed to produce large volumes of sparks from the chimney; these continued to glow hot as they floated to the ground. “Unfortunately, some of the recent coal supplies have demonstrated similar properties. The glowing sparks are really quite small, having got through the fine 6mm mesh of the spark arrestors that are fitted to all of our locomotives. These small, hot sparks, landing on tinder-dry lineside vegetation, are still a recipe for an impromptu fire. Beneath the fireboxes, efforts are underway to improve the ashpans, to reduce the possibility of hot cinders falling out through dampers and doors.”