The Building of Lady of Legend

DVD (Kingfisher Productions, Watershed Mill, Settle, North Yorkshire BD24 9LR, www.railwayvideo.com 40mins £14.95).

ONE of the heritage sector's most significant achievements in recent years was the completion of the Great Western Society's new Saint 4-6-0, No. 2999 Lady of Legend. This DVD tells how it was done.

It traces the project from its inception, when GWR 4-6-0 No. 4942 Maindy Hall was acquired from Barry scrapyard for the purpose, and the abortive 1982 attempt to raise funds for its conversion into one of the later ‘Courts'. Perhaps the best archive film shows the derelict No. 4942 being shunted into Didcot shed by classmate No. 5900 Hinderton Hall.

Using past scenes such as the casting of the wheels, and interviews with project leader Peter Chatman and GWS chairman Richard Croucher, it tells how the project got off the ground and created the gleaming machine we see today.

The commentary is comprehensive without generally getting too technical, and includes several interesting snippets (that the engine has genuine Saint connecting rods from No. 2906, for instance), while some of the footage gives an insight into how locomotives go together, such as the scenes of the tender tank under construction.

Yet I couldn't help feeling that it still sold the project a little short, given that it has recreated what is arguably the most significant steam locomotive design of the early 20th century. A little more background on the story of the original Saints, and how subsequent GWR locomotives were developed from them, would have helped to emphasise this – and with a running time of only 40 minutes, and plenty of those other Western engines at Didcot to look at, there was surely scope for more. POTTED HISTORY OF A MAJOR PROJECT