THE Vale of Rheidol Railway (VoR) has confirmed that 2ft (610 mm) gauge W GBagnall 4-6-2+tender 2460/1932 is to be fully restored at the line’s Aberystwyth workshops.
The loco, originally No. 41, was displayed in public for the first time in some 40 years in as-withdrawn condition as No. 762, during the line’s August 24-26 Steam Festival (picture RM, October), when it was hinted a further announcement could be anticipated.
The loco worked on the Gwalior Light Railway (a.k.a. the Maharaja Railway) later renamed the Scindia State Railway, and in 1951 became part of the Central Railway in India. Up to the time the Gwalior line shut in 2020 it was the world’s longest 2ft gauge line. Restoration will be carried out to honour the late Peter Rampton who saved it for preservation as part of his‘Collection X’, now owned by the VoR.