Desmond gets first ‘tick in box’
AN INITIAL inspection of 1906-built Avonside 0-4-0ST Desmond at the Flour Mill workshops, Forest of Dean, has “not highlighted any immediate major concerns regarding the works necessary to return it to steam”, according to the Llanelli & Mynydd Mawr Railway. It follows a “substantial amount of restoration” at the Llangollen Railway, which has now withdrawn from the contracting market following severe difficulties in its engineering department.
The loco will be partially dismantled for a thorough inspection to agree a programme of work. This will see the new cab, saddletank, partially completed firebox and boiler removed. It is hoped restoration will be completed at the Flour Mill before it moves to the LMMR visitor centre at the former Cynheidre Colliery, near Llanelli, where it will work on the short demonstration line.
This will signify a return to South Wales, where Desmond worked at Lysaght’s Orb Steelworks, Newport, from new until 1973 when it was ceremoniously handed over to the National Museums and Galleries of Wales; this turned out to be its final steaming. The steelworks closed in 2020 after 122 years. So far £70,000 has been spent on the loco’s restoration, assisted by a £50,000 Heritage Lottery Fund and £3,000 Prism Fund grants. An £18,000 grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology, made in September, will enable restoration to be completed – in theory this will be a boiler retube and the fitting of vacuum brakes, ahead of testing and re-assembly.