THE Churchward County Trust’s (CCT) project to construct GWR ‘County’ class 4-4-0 No. 3840 County of Montgomery has reached another significant milestone following the formal transfer of ownership of a boiler and other components from the Great Western Society (GWS) at Didcot.
The majority of the items will be provided by unrestored ‘Barry 10’ 2-8-0T No. 5227 and had originally been earmarked for use in the GWS’ own, but ultimately aborted, plan to re-create a Churchward ‘County’ at Didcot Railway Centre in line with the 2005 ‘Three Counties Agreement’ with Vale of Glamorgan Council.
Following the GWS’ decision not to proceed with its ‘County’ 4-4-0 scheme, when the County of Montgomery project was launched at the start of 2018 the society offered to donate the components to the CCT, but only once the main frames had been erected, and on condition of a successful application for charitable status. With both of these provisos now met, a formal transfer agreement was drawn up, which was signed by CCT chairman Gary Boyd-Hope and GWS chief executive, Clive Hetherington, at Didcot at the end of last year.
The parts being donated by No. 5227 are: