Birthday girl: Every birthday girl deserves a cake and Foremarke Hall is no exception. Left to right, Jim Clarke, John Cruxon and Ron Alexander in front of Foremarke Hall’s nameplate in April. This was the month she emerged brand new from Swindon works in 1949 to start her short career. The cake will be consumed by the Foremarke Hall group on a train from Toddington behind the locomotive, on 5th July. We’re told that Foremarke will be fed a piece of cake on that day. (Photograph: Tony Stockwell)  


Mystery photograph: Foremarke Hall at Swindon shed on Tuesday 22 May 1956, when just seven years old. The engine appears to be in BR lined black livery and is attached to a Collett tender which is clean but devoid of lining or BR crest (from new the engine would have had a flat-sided, Hawksworth tender similar to the one it has now). The tender also looks as if it has a leak from one of the rivets. The reporting number* suggests a special train to the Shrewsbury division and the sixth such train of the day. The well-loaded tender and feathering safety valve implies that the engine is about to move off shed, rather than having just arrived. Was it perhaps a troop train – can anyone tell us more about the service it was running? (Photograph: Ray Simpson/Foremarke Hall Group)  

60-year-olds travel free on 4^th and 5^th July!

When ladies reach a certain age they can become coy about admitting that they, well, qualify for a bus pass.  But one very elegant lady on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is not shy about reaching her 60^th birthday this year: locomotive no. 7903 Foremarke Hall.

You can help celebrate her birthday!  On Saturday and Sunday, 4th and 5th July, you can travel free if you reach your 60^th birthday this year, provided you are accompanied by a fare-paying passenger.  Just turn up at any of the GWR's booking offices with proof that you were born in 1949 (a bus pass would be a good example!).  Foremarke Hall, which is owned by the Foremarke Hall Group, will be running on both days.

In fact, 60 years old is quite a young age for a steam locomotive.  Foremarke Hall emerged into the sunlight at Swindon Works in April 1949, just four months after the Great Western Railway became part of the newly-nationalised British Railways.  She was among the last of 330 members of the Hall and Modified Hall classes and was turned out in the new British Railways 'mixed traffic' lined black livery.  The black-and-white picture shows the engine in this guise at Swindon shed when just four years old.

Foremarke Hall was no slouch.  Explains Jim Clarke, Chairman of the Foremarke Hall Group, with a hint of pride: "She was allocated to Old Oak Common depot, which provided motive power for trains from Paddington station.  And in her youth, she took over an express to Plymouth instead of the usual, more powerful, 'Castle' class reserved for this service.  She really set about showing what she could do and completed the journey in less than four hours.  That was a post-war record for the route." 

Foremarke Hall's glory was quite short-lived, however.  At just 15 years old, the end of steam had arrived and she was ignominiously dumped at a scrap yard in South Wales where she quietly rusted away until 1981, when rescued for restoration.

Fast forward to April 2009.  The Foremarke Hall Group, who spent a quarter-of-a-century restoring their engine at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, celebrated her birthday in the traditional way - with a cake.  Our picture (by Tony Stockwell) shows Jim Clarke, Chairman of the Trust (left), John Cruxon, engineering manager and Ron Alexander, 7903 Ltd company secretary and treasurer of the Group, with their locomotive in the background. 

Says Jim Clarke: "Our group is having a birthday party on a train hauled by Foremarke Hall on Sunday 5^th July, but we wanted to celebrate this milestone with the GWR.  So the railway agreed that anyone the same age as the engine could travel for free over the weekend, which is fantastic news."

Foremarke Hall has now spent five years on the GWR, now sporting British Railways express green livery.  With a smile, Jim adds: "She may be 60, but she is one of the railway's most reliable performers!"

* GWR reporting numbers: the O25 on the front of the locomotive in the black-and-white picture indicates that the train is on a special service (the first digit, O describes the type of train); the middle digit indicates the destination (2 in this case is the Shrewsbury division) and the final digit is the train number (starting from 0, so 5 indicates the sixth train on this service)