Gwili Taff Vale restoration reaches its first milestone

THE LAST surviving Welsh-built steam locomotive – Taff Vale Railway 0-6-2T No. 28 – is to undergo a boiler lift and inspection at the Gwili Railway.

It comes as the Gwili Vintage Carriage Group reaches its first fundraising milestone in its plans to overhaul it, 30 years after it last steamed

So far £32,000 has been raised, including a £18,250 grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology.

The funding will enable the first sections of the engine’s bottom end (frames and motion) to receive repairs and also for the boiler to be lifted and inspected.

The condition of the boiler will determine the remaining cost and timescale for the overhaul, but the overall cost is expected to reach around £160,000. The boiler inspection and first phase of work is due to be complete by spring 2022. More information is at www.taffvalerailway28.co.uk/fundraising

Graham Nuttall Shades of the Highland Main Line. Newly-overhauled LMS Stanier 4-6-0 ‘Black Five’ 5025 awaits departure from Boat of Garten, Strathspey Railway, with the 15.00 Aviemore-broomhill on September 10.

Passing the impressive Princess Risborough signalbox, currently under restoration, visiting GWR 0-6-0PT 6412 passes with an auto-trailer during a charter on the Chinnor and Princess Risborough Railway on August 14. Martyn Tattam Steam returned to the colliery section at Beamish Museum on September 16, with Peckett 0-4-0ST 1370 shunting chaldron wagons. A chaldron was the legal unit of measure for coal used from the 13th century, until abolished in 1963 by the Weights & Measures Act. It originated as the legal limit for horse-drawn coal wagons on roads, and transferred when plateways came into use. Robert Falconer