GWR 6400 Class No. 6422

GWR 6400 Class No. 6422 was among one of the 40 examples of the GWR 6400 Class which were 0-6-0PT Locomotives designed by Charles Collett and built by the GWR's own Swindon Works for the Great Western Railway (GWR) and would last into the days of British Railways.
== History ==
=== Robbery ===
At around midnight in January 1961, No. 6422 departed from the sheds and stopped at the signal box on the outlet line of the Stafford Road yard in Wolverhampton. The driver gave the signalman of the engine and informed them that he was to take the locomotive light engine to Worcester for maintenance, the signalman informed the driver that he was to couple up to the night sleeper train that was ready for departure and go as far as Wolverhampton low level station.
The driver agreed and shunted the engine to the back of the passenger train, once the train reached low level station, 6422 was uncoupled and continued down the line, it's believed that it had to stop at Sourbridge to take on water as it was making the run, at around 2:00am, the engine approached a signal box that ordered it to move into a siding to allow a faster freight train to overtake them. The signalman reported the timing of the freight train to control as normal before mentioning he was holding a locomotive in the siding, control reported no knowledge of the engine or why it was so far down the mainline, so they requested the signalman to ask the driver what he was doing.
By this point, the engine had been stopped for 30 minutes and when the signalman came to ask the driver, he found out that both the driver and fireman were gone as it turned out that both men were wanted all day by railway police, they had likely seen GWR No. 6422 parked in a siding and decided to use an escape using a very unorthodox method of transportation, but not only did they steal No. 6422, they had also expertly navigated through the yard and and across many points and switches without incident, they also told a yard official where they were going and even coupled it up to a passenger train without raising suspicion, they managed to fire No. 6422 correctly, refill it with water halfway and managed to fool numerous railway officials without raising suspicion.
The men were eventually caught and it was found that the driver was (or at one point was) a soldier, it's believed that he had many experiences driving a locomotive and was familiar with the line he drive it down on as there were hundreds of signals and many ground discs along the way that informed him if the points and signals were set correctly, something that many amateurs would miss or interpret incorrectly. by the time the men had came to the end of their joyride, they had made it 28 miles (45 km) away from Wolverhampton, the driver and fireman were both tried in court, when asked about the charges, an official had said this quote "there's trespass of course, and there must be something that stops people taking away rolling stock without permission".
Both the driver and the fireman there were responsible for stealing GWR No. 6422 were either arrested or received a stern slap on their wrists.
The cause of the robbery involving GWR No. 6422 was because these two men wanted to recreate the train scenes from the 1953 film "The Titfield Thunderbolt".
=== After the Robbery ===
GWR 6400 Class No. 6422 was unharmed and was put back into service, it would eventually be withdrawn from service and although three other 6400s (Nos. 6412, 6430 and 6435) would survive, No. 6422 would not be one of the preserved examples, and would be scrapped, thus rendering it deceased.
==Trivia ==
*The story of GWR No. 6422's robbery still goes on to this day.
==External links ==
*Train of Thought - Youtube
Category:Pannier tank locomotives
Category:GWR 6400 Class
Category:Scrapped steam locomotives
Category:Tank locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:0-6-0PT locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Swindon Works locomotives
Category:British locomotives
Category:Collett locomotives
Category:British steam locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Great Western Railway locomotives
Category:United Kingdom
Category:4 foot 8 1⁄2 inch gauge
Category:British Rail locomotives
Category:Switcher locomotives
Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Category:Built in 1935