Welsh Guardsman moves to SVR

ROBERT, Stephenson & Hawthorns Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 7170 of 1944 Welsh Guardsman has moved from the Gwili Railway to the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) following the conclusion of its long-term hire agreement with the West Wales line.

The locomotive is in full working order after its overhaul at the Llangollen Railway in 2014 and has been the mainstay of services at Bronwydd Arms for the last five years. Partly owned by Welsh brewer Felinfoel, it was rededicated at a ceremony there on June 9, 2014.

It currently carries lined black livery and its War Department number 71516, which it carried when delivered new in 1944. It was subsequently sold to the National

Coal Board, where it moved in 1947, before being transferred to Cynheidre Colliery near Llanelli, where it worked for the rest of its career. Laid up at Pontarddulais as a source of spares for other operable Austerities in 1976, it was subsequently saved for preservation by the Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum. It was named Welsh Guardsman at a ceremony at Bronwydd Arms.

Operational options

The owners have relocated the locomotive while options for its ongoing use are assessed and it has been agreed that the SVR will undertake some examination and maintenance work. The locomotive could be used on SVR services as well as going out on the locomotive-hire circuit. Although unsuitable for normal SVR trains, mainly due to its low water capacity, as these are quite powerful machines, it is planned to test it on the railway’s dining trains to assess its suitability for use on them once the current dining train regular, Collett No. 1450’s boiler ticket expires later this year.

Welsh Guardsman will not be the first six-coupled Austerity to grace the SVR as No. WD193 was a former resident until January 1981, regularly hauling services between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade in the railway’s earlier days. Named Shropshire ,the 1953-built Hunslet is currently under overhaul at the Ribble Steam Railway.