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Second time lucky as recreated‘Saint’No. 2999 Lady of Legend is again lined up to appear at the Severn Valley Railway’s April 15-18 Spring Steam Up gala. Itis pictured at Didcot Railway Centre on November 2, 2019. 

JACK BOSKETT

Restoration of GWR 2-8-0 to be completed in Stockton

THE slow but steady restoration of Peter Robinson’s GWR‘2884’ No. 3814 is to be completed at the workshops of Northern Steam Engineering in Stockton, its third base in four years.

The 2-8-0 was previously based at the Llangollen Railway, having moved there from its long term home at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in September 2018. Here the 1940-built heavy freight loco had been the subject of a bottom-end restoration by Mr Robinson, who rescued it from Barry in 1986.

The move to Llangollen saw further progress on the loco’s cladding and tender, but after the closure of the engineering business last year anew base had to be found for No. 3814.

Northern Steam will now complete the project, subject to funding, which includes the overhaul of the loco’s Standard No. 1 boiler and more work on the bottom-end. The works is no stranger to GWR boilers, having recently completed the overhaul of the boiler belonging to the Severn Valley Railway’s ‘Hall’ No. 4930 Hagley Hall.

No. 3814’s 4,000 gallon tender will however remain at Llangollen, where it is being restored to run with No. 6880 Betton Grange.

Take Two: ‘Saint’ for Severn Valley gala after 2020 Covid cancellation

THE Severn Valley Railway (SVR) is hoping it will be a case of ‘second time lucky’next month, after confirming that Great Western Society’s‘Saint’No. 2999 Lady of Legend will be star guest at the line’s Spring Steam Up on April 15 to 18.

The re-created Churchward 4-6-0 had been booked to visit the SVR for the line’s Spring Steam Gala last April; a visit which was subsequently postponed owing to the event’s cancellation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time of writing in mid-February, the railway was hopeful that coronavirus lockdown restriction would be lifted to allow the event to take place, albeit in a socially-distanced and Covid-safe manner.

If it does, it will allow the Didcot Railway Centre-based ‘Saint’to be matched with the SVR’s Churchward‘Toplight’ stock for the first time; what many GWR enthusiasts have been calling for since before No. 2999 was completed.

The event will also be the ‘Saint’s’ first visit away from Didcot since the completion of the project in 2019; something of a coup for the SVR.

The Spring Steam Up is expected to feature up to eight locomotives in steam each day, and several with a strong Western contingent, including No. 2999,‘28XX’ 2-8-0 No. 2857, 0-6-0ST No. 813,‘57XX’ pannier No. 7714, and on-loan‘Modified Hall’No. 6960 Raveningham Hall. The latter is making one of its final gala appearances at the SVR as it enters its final year in traffic before overhaul.

Appearances by Bulleid‘West Country’No. 34027 Taw Valley,