Great Western Railway Hall class locomotive No.4936 was built in June 1929 at Swindon Works to a design by C.B.Collett. One of a class that would eventually number 330, the Hall was designed as a general purpose engine and during a career spanning 30 years, carried out sterling work for the Great Western Railway and British Railways. When originally turned out, Kinlet Hall was paired with a small 3,500 gallon tender and tall chimney, her appearance in the 1930's was somewhat different from that which is seen today. The cost of construction was £5,209.00 which included £1,167.00 for the boiler and £834.00 for the tender. In the course of her career Kinlet Hall ran a total of 1,339,061 miles, covering the length and breadth of the GWR network. She led a nomadic existence, being initially allocated to Chester and transferring to Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton, Oxford, Banbury, Old Oak Common, Truro, Plymouth and Cardiff. It was during her time in the West Country that Kinlet Hall achieved the unfortunate distinction of falling into a bomb crater, following a heavy raid on Plymouth in 1941, causing extensive damage to the bogie and main frames. The subsequent repairs were carried out at Newton Abbott. Damage was so severe that it is remarkable that repair was effected at all. The locomotive therefore carries the unusual distinction of having been saved both from the Luftwaffe raid and the scrapyard. The end came on 15th January 1964 when Kinlet Hall was withdrawn from service and sold as scrap to Messrs Woodham Brothers at Barry Island. After languishing for 20 years the locomotive was bought by a consortium and the long road to restoration began.
	The 'Kinlet Hall Locomotive Company Limited' was formed in 1980 to purchase and restore 4936 to working order. She was transferred to the Peak Rail, Matlock in May 1981, but moved to the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway, Toddington in March 1985, followed by Llangollen in October 1992. After extensive efforts the engine was successful in becoming one of the first locomotives to receive a substantial award from the Heritage lottery Fund towards its repair.
The standard of repair 'to the best standard', required new tyres and main line certification and the engine was therefore transferred to Tyseley, her present operating base, in December 1996. A unique feature of 4936 is that it was, and still is, the only GWR engine to have manganese liners fitted to the main axle boxes.
	The first successful steaming of the locomotive for 36 years occured on 16th February 2000, at Tyseley, and Kinlet Hall achieved its remarkable return and Railtrack mainline certification on 8th June 2000. The locomotive has since retraced many of its old haunts, having visited Old Oak Common, Swindon, Newport, Newton Abbott and the South West including Penzance.

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