Ex-Great Western Railway Churchward '28xx' class 2-8-0 No. 3804. Built at Swindon in August 1939 and withdrawn in July 1964.

George Jackson Churchward's '28xx' class were introduced just eight years before John Robinson's Great Central 'O4s' but as (more or less) contemporary 2-8-0 locomotives both classes survived well into the 1960s. The '28xxs' were virtually always to be found on GWR metals, in this instance 3804 is at Southall MPD in June 1963. Some Robinson 'O4s' strayed much, much further afield, even reaching the southern hemisphere!

© Les Hanson-David Hanson Archive