The South Devon Railway has sold ex GWR locomotive No. 3803 to the Dartmouth Steam Railway
Built in 1939, the 2-8-0 heavy freight engine spent most of her time working round the GWR system n heavy freight trains, being housed first at Tyseley, then Banbury, Southall and Cardiff Canton, before finishing her days at Severn Tunnel Junction.
After a service life covering 726,770 miles, she was withdrawn in July 1963 and sent to Woodham’s scrapyard in Barry. Rescued in November 1983, she came to Buckfastleigh where, after a lengthy overhaul, she returned to steam in 2005.
Also moving to the Dartmouth Steam Railway is the frame of loco number 2873.
The locomotives were carefully loaded onto the lorries and then snaked their way through our site and onto the A38, where they headed towards Exeter before going back down the A380 to Paignton and on to Churston (the lorries are too big to go over the bridge over our railway at Riverford which is why they have to go via Exeter).
Commenting, the SDR’s general manager, Ernest Elsworth-Wilson, said: “This is very much the right thing for us to do. When 3803 was bought from Barry scrapyard, she was destined for service on the steeply graded Paignton to Kingswear line, when both lines were under the same Dart Valley Railway ownership. So, she is going to the line she was originally intend for, which is very good news indeed. In the meantime, we have earmarked the proceeds from her sale for a number of projects that will see more of our home fleet returned to steam.”
3803 has had relatively little use on the South Devon Railway but spent a number of seasons on hire to the Shakerstone Railway.
John Jones, managing director of the Dartmouth Steam Railway, said: “We are delighted to have secured 3803 which we are looking forward to returning to steam in the not too distant future. It has been well looked after and is ideally suited to our line: it will make light work of even our heaviest trains. Given that it was purchased with the aim of working here, to a great extent the locomotive is finally coming home!”
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