BODMIN & WENFORD RAILWAY
GWR Pannier Tank 0-6-0PT No 4612
4612 was the railway’s first
resident Great Western engine.
Built in February 1942, 4612 served the Great Western Railway and the Western Region for 23 years in the Swindon/Bristol area, finishing in South Wales, from there it was withdrawn and sent to Woodhams scrapyard at Barry. But in contrast to the 200-odd other that were rescued from Barry for eventual restoration, 4612 was bought by the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway as a source of spare parts for the KWVR’s former London Underground GWR pannier 5775. After departing Barry in 1981, it was gradually stripped of parts – including swapping its boiler for the life-expired one from 5775 – until its purchase by Ray and Elaine Treadwell in 1987. Ray and Elaine engaged Swindon Railway Workshops – then based in the old Swindon Works and later at Bill Parker’s Flour Mill Workshop at Bream in the Forest of Dean - to rebuild the locomotive.
With just the frames, wheels, a written off boiler, cab and bunker to start from, the restoration is reported to have cost the equivalent of £250,000 today. The Severn Valley Railway rebuilt the boiler with other contractors, including the South Devon Railway, engaged to fabricate other parts.
The Bodmin and Wenford Trust bought 4612 from Ray and Elaine Treadwell. At its launch ceremony held on Sunday 29th July 2001, Alan Moore CBE, as one of the B & W R Trustees, described how its arrival represented a further stage in the B&W’s development as a leading preserved railway.
Since then 4612 has proved herself as one of the mainstays of the railway, she steams well, sure footed and enjoyed by most crews. Oiling the engine is difficult with the need of an extra joint in the arm, but overall she’s well liked.