The

Taff Vale Railway The Taff Vale Railway (TVR) was a standard gauge railway in South Wales, built by the Taff Vale Railway Company to serve the iron and coal industries around Merthyr Tydfil and to connect them with docks in Cardiff. It was opened in stag ...

(TVR) O1 class was a class consisting of fourteen

0-6-2T T, or t, is the twentieth Letter (alphabet), letter in the English language, modern English English alphabet, alphabet and the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Its name in English is English alphabet#Letter names, ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''te ...

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

tank locomotives A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locomot ...

, designed by

Tom Hurry Riches Tom Hurry Riches (1846–1911) was a British engineer who became the Locomotive Superintendent of the Taff Vale Railway in October 1873, and held the post until his death. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest locomotive superinte ...

, which were introduced to the TVR during the period 1894-1897.

Numbering

Withdrawal and disposal

All were withdrawn from traffic between 1925 and 1931.

Locomotive 28

Locomotive No. 28 is the last surviving Welsh-built standard gauge locomotive. It began its TVR career working the mineral and coal trains from collieries to port. By 1922 when the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

had taken control, it had run 483,189 miles, and by 1923 was given a major overhaul, receiving a new boiler from the West Yard Works. Absorbed into the GWR fleet, No. 28 was renumbered No. 450, and given a GWR-style cover over its safety valve, its external design was unchanged. It was withdrawn from service on 30 October 1926, but was found to be in good mechanical condition and sold to the Government in 1927, for use on the Woolmer Military Instructional Railway, later called the

Longmoor Military Railway The Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) was a British military railway in Hampshire, built by the Royal Engineers from 1903 in order to train soldiers on railway construction and operations. The railway ceased operation on 31 October 1969. Route ...

. The engine was named "Gordon", after the General of Khartoum, and was kept in immaculate condition in Hampshire, performing relatively light duties compared to its TVR working days. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out and No. 28 was renumbered W.D. 205, then W.D. 70205, before becoming surplus again and put into storage. It was then sold in 1947 to the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

and used at their

Hetton colliery railway The Hetton colliery railway was an long private railway opened in 1822 by the Hetton Coal Company at Hetton Lyons, County Durham, England. The Hetton was the first railway to be designed from the start to be operated without animal power, as we ...

. It was renumbered No. 67, though still retaining the "Gordon" nameplates as it engaged in heavy work on the coalfields again. It received a major overhaul in 1955, with minor alterations to its external design, but by 1959 it needed boiler repairs and was withdrawn from service in 1960.

Preservation

Following requests to NCB that it should be saved, locomotive 28 was successfully presented to British Railways for preservation in 1962. It is now part of the

National Collection The UK National Collection is a collection of around 280 historic rolling stock, rail vehicles (predominantly of British origin). The majority of the collection is kept at four national museums: * National Railway Museum, York * National Railwa ...

. It was originally intended that the last Welsh-built standard gauge locomotive be restored to original TVR condition at the Caerphilly Locomotive Works, however the site was given notice of closure and No. 28 was the last to leave for storage in Swindon and London. In 1966, it was returned to Caerphilly as the

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

had been given custodianship of the locomotive. In the 1983 the engine was restored to working order by the Caerphilly Railway Society and ran for about 7 years, until taken out of service to await routine boiler examination. Caerphilly Railway Society subsequently closed. The locomotive then spent over a decade on loan to the

Dean Forest Railway The Dean Forest Railway is a long heritage railway that runs between Lydney and Parkend in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. The route was part of the former Severn and Wye Railway which ran from Lydney to Cinderford. The society that ope ...

who dismantled it for a more thorough restoration, but this was unsuccessful due to the discovery of cracked springs. The NRM later in 2013 moved the locomotive to the

Llangollen Railway The Llangollen Railway () is a volunteer-run heritage railway in Denbighshire, North Wales, which operates between Llangollen and Corwen. The standard gauge line, which is long, runs on part of the former Ruabon – Barmouth GWR route that c ...

where it was to be reassembled. In 2013 the cosmetic restoration of No. 28 was set to go ahead thanks to a three-way partnership between the National Railway Museum, the Llangollen Railway, and the

Gwili Railway The Gwili Railway (Welsh: ''Rheilffordd Gwili'') is a Welsh heritage railway, that operates a preserved standard gauge railway line from the site of Abergwili Junction (near Carmarthen) in southwest Wales along a section of the former Carmarth ...

, with the aim of returning the locomotive to original condition. In 2014 it moved to the Gwili Railway on static loan under the care of the Gwili Vintage Carriages Group, with the current agreement due to expire in February 2020. On 1 October 2019 the National Railway Museum and Welsh Railways Trust (Formerly Gwili Vintage Carriages Group) announced a three-year overhaul agreement to return it to steam in a £160,000 project, part-funded by a £18,000 grant from the Association for Industrial Archaeology. This grant will be used to restore the rolling chassis of the locomotive, which includes original Taff Vale Railway components. The overhaul will be carried out at the Gwili Railway, where it will then work.

Gallery

File:Caerphilly Railway 1 (2197934190).jpg File:Caerphilly Railway 2 (2197144089).jpg File:Caerphilly Railway 3 (2197143065).jpg File:Caerphilly Railway 4 (2197931202).jpg File:Caerphilly Railway 5 (2197141525).jpg

References

* * * {{GWR absorbed locos 1922 on O1 0-6-2T locomotives Kitson locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1894 Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain