GWR loco No. 6902 'Butlers Hall' @ Swindon Works - May 1961 by Frederick McLean Via Flickr: An old photograph (2" x 2") of accident damaged British Railways/Great Western Railway (GWR) steam locomotive No. 6902 being scrapped in 'A' shop at the Swindon Works. The works was opened in January 1843, the last BR steam locomotive it produced was 'Evening Star' in 1960, the last steam loco to come in for repair was in 1964, the works closed in 1986 with some work continuing into 1987 after which most of the site was cleared for redevelopment. Old/new overhead maps view:- maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15.4&lat=5... The photo has no date or photographer name. No. 6902 'Butlers Hall' was a C. Collett designed 'Hall class' 4-6-0 engine, built at the Swindon Works and new to GWR in Jul 1940. In Feb 1961 the locomotive was involved in an *accident in which the driver died, this is it being scrapped at Swindon Works just a few months later in the May. The accident damage can clearly be seen in the photograph. * "In the early hours of the 11th February 1961, the ex GWR locomotive 6902 Butlers Hall was heading the 10.23 p.m. York - Swindon express when it collided with the rear portion of a divided freight train and derailed. Tragically this resulted in the death of the driver of the express, Driver A. L. L. Jones, who was trapped on his footplate." From Mike Crabtree in the 'Railway Identification Group' on Facebook:- "Swindon ‘A’ shop because of the configuration of a single overhead crane lifting the whole locomotive, Darlington North Road also lifted locos using a single crane and its most definitely not North Road. All other erecting shops used twin cranes and lifted using what was called a double lift." If there are any errors in the above description please let me know. Thanks. 📷 Any photograph I post on Flickr is an original in my possession, nothing is ever copied/downloaded from another location. 📷 -------------------------------------------------
