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I was at Oxford station earlier this month, camera at the ready, to capture the passage of the steam locomotive Rood Ashton Hall at the head of an enthusiasts' special from Solihull. This was the last outing for the engine before a major overhaul. Built in 1929 by the Great Western Railway, Rood Ashton Hall was one of the earliest examples of a class of mixed-traffic locomotives that eventually numbered 330. Late in its life - because of a certain amount of cannibalisation that was going on to keep old steam engines on the road - it came to incorporate parts of a later engine, Albert Hall. This name showed some desperation by the GWR, since most previous Halls had been of the residential variety. Other deviations from the pattern included Lady Margaret Hall and Toynbee Hall. As production of the class neared its end, some wag suggested the last engine might appropriately be called That's Hall.

One Hall name is proving useful to me at present as a means of providing a record for the most important of my credit card pin numbers (we're not, of course, supposed to write them down). Having completely forgotten it one night last week, as I went to pay for a (first!) bottle of wine, I vowed to find some formula for being able to find it out in future. I suddenly realised that the number was shared by a member of the Hall class - but what was its name? My Ian Allen spotters' combined volume of 1962 proved to be no good since the engine had been withdrawn by the time it was published. But could I find It elsewhere? I pulled a book of GWR photographs from my shelves, opened it at the section on Halls, and the very first picture my eye alighted on was of 'my' engine.

4:10pm Wednesday 26th March 2008

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