Peter Kerslake says "Poor old 4214, a Newport Pill engine in happier days, has clearly run its last mile and is awaiting its fate at Ebbw Junction depot in this view from July 1964, the penultimate year for steam on the Western Region.
One of the first series of one hundred built at Swindon from 1912 the design of this engine was a development from the highly successful and earlier "2800" class of freight tender engines with the prototype of the class, numbered 4201 emering from Swindon in 1910.
Intended for use within South Wales with its heavy coal and mineral freights the class came into their own during the First War, but by the 1920's mineral and coal traffic was diminishing and a number of the later examples were converted into a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement, with enlarged bunkers permitting their use on longer distance duties, often away from Wales.
The first to be condemned was 4224 in 1959 whilst one of the later series, namely 5235 lasted until 1965, with no fewer than eight making it into preservation."