Work has continued this month to prepare number 28 for the boiler lift. The remaining fixings were removed from the cab, and final checks made to ensure the boiler is now free and ready to lift off the frames. The side rods have been removed, and axle crank pins protected. The bearings removed from the rods to reverse engineer to make patterns for new castings. The boiler lift is planned for early March.
Worncrank bbearing. Removal of bearing from side rod. Rods before removal.
The Welsh Railways Trust is pleased to announce that it has acquired HST Power Car 43056 ‘The Royal British Legion’ for preservation. Thanks to the generosity of Porterbrook in donating the vehicle, it will become the first High-Speed Train Power Car to be preserved in Wales and is one of only a small number currently preserved in the U.K.
HST Power Car 43056 by PAFC1015 Used under licence Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)
The High-Speed Train was introduced into service in 1976 and formed the backbone of Intercity services on the South Wales Main Line until May 2019, when they were finally withdrawn and replaced by Hitachi IET 800s.
The power car 43056 has led a varied life, having worked on nearly every part of the U.K rail network. It entered service as part of set 254001, the first HST set on the Eastern Region of what was then British Rail. The Power Car will form a cornerstone in the Trust’s ambitions to create a museum telling the stories of Welsh Railways.
James Buckley WRT Trustee said “We are incredibly proud to be preserving the first HST Power Car in Wales and extremely grateful to Porterbrook for its donation. By adding 43056 to our collection, we can tell the story of Welsh Railways from early 1874 right through to 2019. Our plan for 43056 is that it will be subject to six months of conservation and cosmetic work before going on public display for Easter 2022. It is then intended that it will be moved undercover as part of project Dan Do, which we hope will be completed by the summer of 2022.
The Welsh Railway Trust was formed in 2021 by the merger of the Caerphilly Railway Society and the Gwili Vintage Carriage Group. It is based on the Gwili Railway in Carmarthen and is a registered charity (519531)
The Welsh Railway Trust is delighted to announce that the 3 car class 117 Diesel Multiple Unit, based on the Gwili Railway, has been donated to the WRT by its owners.
Vehicle numbers 51347, 59508, 51401 arrived on the Gwili Railway in 2009 and were in regular service until 2019. TCL 51347 is currently in use as a locomotive hauled coach while the other two vehicles are out of traffic. The WRT is currently drawing up plans to return 59508 and 51401 to operating condition.
We are incredibly grateful to the Llanelli & Dsictrict Railway Society for this kind donation.
