TVR No. 28 to return to steam
Gwili group signs deal to overhaul sole surviving Welsh-built standard gauge locomotive.
Unique Taff Vale Railway ‘O1’ 0-6-2T No. 28 is set to return to steam in three years’ time, following the launch of a £160,000 appeal to overhaul the locomotive.
The National Railway Museum, which owns No. 28, signed an agreement with its custodians, the Welsh Railways Trust – formerly the Gwili Vintage Carriages Group – on September 27 to return the sole surviving Welsh-built standard gauge steam locomotive to working order for the first time since 1990, at the Gwili Railway. Estimated to cost a total of £160,000, the appeal has received a boost in the form of an £18,000 grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology, which will fund the restoration of the ‘rolling chassis’.
Project manager David Murray said: “This locomotive is a unique survivor and is an important part of Welsh railway history. Thanks to the support of the National Railway Museum and the Association for Industrial Archaeology, we are now able to commence returning this magnificent piece of industrial heritage back to fully operational condition.”
Gwili Railway Marketing Manager Scott Artus told
Steam Railway that No. 28, currently in unlined Great Western green, will run in “full Taff Vale Railway livery” once complete.
He added: “The restoration will be done by Gwili Railway volunteers/staff and the Taff Vale team. We aim to keep all work in-house bar missing parts that may need making.
“A full mechanical survey has been done with plans drawn up, and once all missing parts are either found or replaced, we will do a boiler test. However, until we get a parts and work schedule, we cannot envisage it being in steam until the full boiler work and exam is done and all money needed for the boiler work has been raised.”
TVR No. 28 has already steamed in preservation. It was restored to working order by the Caerphilly Railway Society in 1983 and ran until 1990 when it was withdrawn. It subsequently moved to the Dean Forest Railway for overhaul, but remained in a dismantled state for many years until it was reassembled as part of a cosmetic restoration at the Llangollen Railway in 2014. It has since been based at the Gwili Railway.
TVR No. 28’s potential return to steam was identified in the NRM’s Operational Rail Vehicle Strategy, alongside ‘V2’ No. 4771 Green Arrow and ‘J52’ No. 1247 (SR491).