Friday 1 May 2020

The Mighty King Class


Quite majestic, were the Kings. A pleasing and well-balanced design, yet they looked noticeably more substantial than the Castles, being nearly ten tons heavier and with a more purposeful-looking “front-end”. In my experience, they rarely came as far north as Shrewsbury, with most Paddington to Birkenhead expresses changing to a Castle at Wolverhampton Low Level.

John Dyer’s excellent picture of No.6016 King Edward V on Shrewsbury sheds was the only one I saw there. My combined volume shows that and I only ever saw 11 of them, including the three preserved examples and two of those were at Barry scrapyard.

John’s other picture shows No. 6007 King William III at Swindon. My photos of No. 6000 King George V are both front on - a special to Chester non-stop through Gobowen in 1962 and at Bulmer’s siding in 1973.  



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