GWR 4953 ‘Pitchford Hall’ will make a special guest appearance at the Severn Valley Railway’s forthcoming Autumn Steam Gala in a late change to the lineup of locomotives. This follows the unexpected withdrawal from service of one of the planned guests, LMS 6233 ‘Duchess of Sutherland’.

‘Pitchford Hall’ has been based on the Epping and Ongar Railway since 2012. The Hall class is considered by some to be the first true mixed-traffic locomotive. 4953 clocked up an impressive 1,344,464 miles during its working life, before it was withdrawn and sent to the scrap yard at Barry in 1963. It spent more than two decades there before being rescued, and it wasn’t until February 2004 that it steamed again, in preservation.

‘Pitchford Hall’ joined the other guest loco, GWR pannier tank 9466 and members of the SVR’s home fleet for the four-day Autumn Steam Gala, between 16^th and 19^th September 2021.