Taff Vale Railway (GWR) (WD1) (NCB2) 0-6-2T No. 28 (450) (WD205) (67)
Bronwydd Arms, Carmarthenshire, UK 		Location: Gwili Railway
Status: Restoration
Abbreviation Expansion English
1 WD War Department War Department
2 NCB National Coal Board National Coal Board
Posted: Nov 22, 2021 @ 06:11:28 by Russell Newman
The overhaul to return former Taff Vale Railway 0-6-2T No. 28 to steam again is now underway at the Gwili Railway with to remove the boiler for work to be carried out is underway.
Posted: Aug 19, 2020 @ 12:08:39 by Steve Frost
Great News!
Posted: Aug 19, 2020 @ 09:08:30 by Russell Newman
It has been announced by the National Railway Museum, and the Gwili Vintage Carriage Group that the former Taff Vale Railway 0-6-2T No. 28 will now be overhauled as both the NRM and the Gwili Vintage Carriage Group have signed a three-year overhaul agreement to bring the last surviving Welsh built steam locomotive back to steam again. Once the overhaul is complete in 2024, the locomotive will operate passenger services on the Gwili Railway as well as possible visits to other preserved railways around the UK.
Posted: Oct 18, 2019 @ 13:10:32 by Russell Newman
The former Taff Vale Railway 0-6-2T No. 28 is to steam again following the launch of a £160,000 appeal to get it steaming again. The National Railway Museum has signed a agreement with the Welsh Railway Trust who are the custodians of the locomotive to have it overhauled to running order for the first time since 1990 at the Gwili Railway.
Posted: Mar 14, 2015 @ 12:03:11 by Steve Frost
The loco has now been reassembled after a cosmetic restoration to Great Western Railway livery for display at the Gwili Railway in Wales coupled to restored Taff Vale Railway coaches to present a fully Welsh train.

It may eventually be returned to operational condition, but for the time being is displayed at Shildon so that it can be under cover for the winter.

Posted: Apr 8, 2010 @ 04:04:12 by Steve Frost
As little progress had been made in restoration, the loco has moved to Llangollen. Hopefully, this may bring a change in fortune.
Posted: Jan 1, 2007 @ 16:01:24 by Steve Frost
A rare survivor from one of the constituant companies of the Great Western. Like the other survivors, it owes its survival to being sold out of service rather than being scrapped. It was built in Cardiff by the Taff Vale Railway, their number 28 of class O1. After the grouping of 1923, it became GWR No 450 but didn't keep that identity for long before being sold in 1926. In this case the Army came to the rescue and it moved to what was later known as the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire. It was renumbered twice: first as 205, then 70205 as well as being named 'Gordon' after General Gordon, who was killed at Khartoum.

In 1947 it was sold to a dealer in Scotland before purchase by the National Coal Board for use at South Hetton Colliery, Co. Durham, where it became No 67 and kept its name. (Incidentally, South Hetton ran the last steam loco used by the Coal Board, but it wasn't this one)

By 1959, the boiler was in a poor state and it was condemned. The NCB clearly realised its historic value as they presented it to the British Transport Commission in 1961. It was one of the last surviving Taff Vale locos in original condition (The other one, also with the NCB and also in County Durham, at Philadelphia, had seen some modifications to the cab because of the restricted clearances on the Lambton Railway. You can view this one in the Yorkshire link, on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway). It went into the care of the Caerphilly Railway Society and was kept at the BR Caerphilly Locomotive works in Glamorgan, before the move to the Forest of Dean in 1996.

The name, 'Gordon', was later applied to the Army's No 600, a 2-10-0 of the Longmoor Military Railway, which the Army still owns, but which is now kept on the Severn valley Railway (See the Worcestershire link to view this one)