Help the £20K last push appeal to resteam Llangollen prairie
A £20,000 appeal has been launched to complete the restoration of GWR small prairie No. 5532.
The Llangollen Railway Great Western Locomotive Group needs to buy 195 small tubes and six large tubes to finish the boiler overhaul.
No. 5532 emerged from Swindon in June 1928 and was first shedded at Stourbridge Junction, working on stopping trains from Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton.
It was later based at Worcester, Evesham, Newport (Ebbw Junction), Tondu, Aberbeeg, Oswestry, Pontypool Road, Bristol (Bath Road), Swindon, Westbury and Plymouth (Laira), from where it was withdrawn in July 1962.
While at Ebbw Junction, No. 5532 was used to haul the Royal Train on October 22, 1941, from Hereford to Monmouth Troy, and later the same day (with George VI on board) from
Monmouth Troy to Ross-on-wye.
No. 5532 worked the last local passenger train from Bristol to Frome on October 31, 1959.
The 2-6-2T arrived at Woodham’s
Barry scrapyard in November 1962 and left in March 1981 after being bought by the Dean Forest Railway as a supply of spares for its other two prairies.
The group bought sister No. 5538 from Barry in 1987. However, it had a cracked cylinder, and so the group agreed to exchange the frames and other components with No. 5532. As the numbers of locomotives are decided by their frames, the group took ownership of No. 5532 when the exchange was made.
Sponsorship of the tubes is being offered at £100 for the small ones and £275 for the large ones.
➜ Donors are invited to either send a cheque payable to ‘LRGWLG’ to fundraiser Paul Bailey at Dolwen, Bryneglwys, Corwen, LL21 9LY or telephone Paul on 01490 450271 for alternative payment options.
Tube sponsors will receive a certificate in acknowledgement and also be invited on the first service train hauled by No. 5532.