page_title: GWR 4900 Class 4979 Wootton Hall
section_title: Preservation
hierarchical_section_title: GWR 4900 Class 4979 Wootton Hall / Preservation
caption_attribution_description: English: Wootton Hall standing inside the FRT shed awaiting restoration.
context_page_description: GWR 4900 Class 4-6-0 No. 4979 Wootton Hall is a steam locomotive. It was built at Swindon, February 1930, and was one of 258 Hall class steam locomotives constructed.
  Its first shed allocation was Plymouth Laira and after 32 years of service it ended up at Oxford. During this time it was allocated to sheds in Penzance, Tyseley, Severn Tunnel Junction, Cardiff Canton, and ended its days in the London Division of the Western Region of British Railways, based at Southall, Reading, Didcot and finally Oxford in July 1958. It was used for a variety of duties including fast passenger service and freight.
  It was withdrawn from service in December 1963 and acquired by Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales, in June 1964.
context_section_description: Of the 259 Hall Class locomotives built, 11 have been preserved with no. 4979 being one of several Halls salvaged from Woodhams' Scrapyard.  It was sold to Fleetwood Locomotive Centre in Lancashire, and left as the 179th departure from Barry in October 1986. 
  In 1994 it was purchased by the Furness Railway Trust and moved to storage at the Lytham Motive Power Museum. In March 2007 it was again moved to a new storage site at Appleby where, during its time at the Heritage Centre there, preventative maintenance was carried out to prevent further decay on the locomotive but the years of being by the sea air at Barry and Fleetwood has taken its toll.
  Once the FRT's new accommodation in Preston was completed, 4979 was moved from Appleby in October 2014, to the Ribble Steam Railway at Preston where restoration has since begun. The tender tank was almost immediately removed and is now sat in the yard awaiting eventual disposal (but remains as a template for the new tender tank). As many re-usable parts as possible have also been recovered from the remains of the tender frames for eventual re-use on the locomotives restored tender. The remains of the locos drag box have been cut away for replacement and a number of small parts from the loco are also being worked on. The long term goal for the FRT is to restore the locomotives tender first and then when the tender is completed and funding has been raised, restore Wootton Hall to her former glory.
caption: Wootton Hall standing inside the FRT shed awaiting restoration.
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 4S", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "9.2.1", "Image DateTime": "2016:02:13 11:47:26", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1098", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11347", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "12/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:02:13 11:47:26", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:02:13 11:47:26", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "2779/643", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4845/1918", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "4907/2017", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "107/25", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1631, 1223, 881, 881]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "683", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "683", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[107/25, 107/25, 12/5, 12/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone 4S back camera 4.28mm f/2.4"}