The Blaenavon Heritage Railway has announced that London and North Western Railway ‘Coal Tank' No.1054 will be visiting the line for its Annual Steam Gala from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th September.
The locomotive previously visited the line for its steam gala in 2013, when it helped to recreate the final train to operate on the Heads of The Valleys Line between Abergavenny and Merthyr Tydfil on 5th January 1958.
No.1054 was built 135 years ago in 1888 and is thought to have originally worked in the Birmingham area before operating services in both North and South Wales. It was withdrawn from service in 1939, but because of a shortage of locomotives required for the war effort, it was quickly overhauled and re-instated to traffic in December 1940.
After clocking up many miles in service in both England and Wales, it moved to the LMS locomotive depot at Abergavenny Brecon Road, from where it was loaned to the National Coal Board for 12 months, working alongside two of its classmates at Windsor Colliery in Ynysybwl near Pontypridd.
No.1054 then returned to Abergavenny, at which time it was the last survivor of its type and, the last locomotive in operation designed by F.W. Webb for the London and North Western Railway.
After the Grouping in 1948, 1054 was renumbered as 58926, and after covering more than over one million miles in its 70 years of service, it was finally withdrawn for scrap in 1958. Thankfully, it was saved from that fate and after an extensive overhaul and restoration, 1054 is now owned by the National Trust but is maintained and operated by the Bahamas Locomotive Society and is based at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway in Yorkshire.
The Blaenavon Heritage Railway is grateful to the Bahamas Locomotive Society for allowing 1054 to return to South Wales for its steam gala.
