While highly successful as a class the GWR rebuilt some of the Churchward 43xx 2-6-0 mogul type locomotives into 4-6-0 types. The change to a two-axle, four wheel leading truck provided better riding at the higher speeds which were being introduced for secondary passenger and fast goods trains during the 1930s.
The first class produced from these rebuilds was the 68xx Grange. Very similar to the 49xx Hall class locomotives the Granges featured slightly smaller driving wheels, resulting in a distinctive raised footplate section over the cylinders and 80 locomotives were completed between 1936 and 1939. The Granges were too heavy for some important secondary routes, particularly the Cambrian route into Wales, so a lighter version was created using a smaller boiler, 20 locomotives being built in 1938/9 of the 78xx Manor class.
While a number of examples of both the larger wheeled Hall and lighter Manor class have been preserved the entire Grange class was scrapped. A new build project is currently underway to construct the 81st Grange.
6820 Kingstone Grange was completed at Swindon in January 1937, going to Newport Ebbw Junction and still allocated there in 1950. By 1959 number 6820 had been moved to Worcester, later returning to Cardiff, being withdrawn from Cardiff East Dock in July 1965. The Cardiff East Dock allocation would have been a 'paper allocation' after Cardiff Canton was closed to steam and converted to service the new diesel locomtoives.
Scrapped at Bird's, Swansea