GWR 4900 Class 5972 Olton Hall

GWR 4900 Class 5972 Olton Hall

GWR Hall Class no. 5972 Olton Hall on display at Doncaster Works open day on 27 July 2003

Type and origin Power type Steam Designer Charles Collett Builder GWR Swindon Works Build date 30 April 1937

Specifications Configuration 4-6-0 Loco weight 75 tons (68 t)

Career Operators Great Western Railway, British Railways Class GWR 4900 (Hall) Numbers 5972 Official name Olton Hall First run 1937 Last run July 2014 Withdrawn 31 December 1963 Current owner West Coast Railway Company Disposition Static display at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter

The steam locomotive no. 5972 Olton Hall is a 4-6-0 Hall class locomotive.

In the 2000s the locomotive achieved fame after it was used to haul the "Hogwarts Express" in the Harry Potter films.

Built in April 1937 at Swindon railway works for the Great Western Railway, it was first allocated to Carmarthen, South Wales where it remained until 1951. After being fitted with a three row superheater at Swindon, it was allocated to Plymouth Laira TMD. Its last shed allocation was to Cardiff East Dock, before it was withdrawn in December 1963, and acquired by Woodham Brothers, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan for scrap in May 1964.

The locations of 5972 on particular dates.

Woodham Brothers sold the locomotive to Procor (UK) Ltd in Wakefield, and it left as the 125th departure from Barry in May 1981. It was based at National Railway Museum Shildon.

Since 2004, private tour operator Beyond Boundaries Travel has commissioned the train each summer for use on its Harry Potter Fan Trips tours of the United Kingdom. On 11 March 2007, vandals targeted the coaches, causing £75,000 worth of damage at West Coast Railway Company's depot in Carnforth. Ten youths, aged between twelve and fourteen years, were arrested in connection with the incident — in which 337 windows on several coaches were smashed.