GWR Hall No. 4930 Hagley Hall has returned to steam today at the Severn Valley Railway, and RailAdvent was invited on board its first train.
4930, which was built in 1929, has been out of service since 1986 after its boiler ticket expired.
Whilst out of service, 4930 has been seen on static display at both the MacArthur Glen shopping centre in Swindon as well as more recently on display at The Engine House at Highley.
Hagley Hall's overhaul started in October 2013, with regular updates being posted through the Friends of Hagley Hall Group.
4930 Hagley Hall arrived into Kidderminster this morning after running light engine from Bridgnorth and was greeted by invited guests and staff from the Severn Valley Railway and Friends of Hagley Hall Group.
4930 Hagley Hall then was serviced and collected its coaching stock for the trip.
We started off with a minutes silence to remember the life of Queen Elizabeth II, who sadly passed away yesterday.
Mike Ball started proceedings, saying that today was “the stuff of dreams” to be seeing 4930 Hagley Hall back in steam.
We spoke to Dave Insull who said that the locomotive is planned to be used at the upcoming Autumn Steam Gala and also would be used a lot during the upcoming Christmas running season.
It was then time for the unveiling of Hagley Hall's nameplates, which was received by a round of applause
The locomotive was then blessed by the local reverend, who is also a long standing volunteer at the railway, and then went off to couple up to its coaches.
We are currently onboard the first train hauled by 4930 Hagley Hall and it really is a sight to behold.
The locomotive is due to haul two round trips to Bridgnorth today, before returning light engine to Bridgnorth later this evening.
4930 Hagley Hall is now ready to haul trains at next week's Autumn Steam Gala at the Severn Valley Railway. The locomotive is appearing alongside visiting locomotives 45231 The Sherwood Forester, 9531, Jessie and Anne, the latter will run at The Engine House at Highley.
Also available on the day was a special version of Monopoly and Top Trumps featuring 4930 as well as a special beer, and Helen Smith says that these are available at the Severn Valley Railway shop.
What are your memories of 4930 Hagley Hall? Let us know in the comments below, or share your images over on LocoStop.
We would like to thank both the Severn Valley Railway and the Friends of Hagley Hall Group for inviting us to the official launch of this wonderful locomotive.
I got a job in Leamington Spa in 1960 and travelled from Stourbridge each Monday morning. Snow Hill Station, Birmingham was a very cold station in January and Hagley Hall still had not heated the 3rd class carriages much at the rear of the train by the time I got off 30 minutes later.
Yes, born the year of the Queens Coronation, I rememember Hagley Hall and the other Cheltenham Flyer Engines to London Paddington and return.
The engine pulled us from Gloucester to Paddington in the scheduled time table of 1 hour 50 minutes, were none of our old HSTs (125s) or the new Hitachi biofuel trains, could not and did not match this time table.
Wonderful days in the 60s with steam.
Thanks for the happy memories guys.