THE Great Western Society’s re-creation of a Churchward ‘Saint’ 4-6-0 – No. 2999 Lady of Legend – is officially complete.
The milestone has been achieved 45 years after donor locomotive No. 4942 Maindy Hall was acquired from Barry Scrapyard in 1974.
The ‘Saint’ made its public debut at Didcot, albeit cold and in unlined black, in November last year, followed by a formal launch in steam on April 5.
However, the loco was still incomplete at the time as the application of full Georgian GWR livery had yet to be completed. This was carried out during May, and a resplendent Lady of Legend was finally unveiled to the public during Didcot’s ‘Hall & Saint’ weekend on June 7-9.
The loco has been completed in the condition the original ‘Saints’ would have been seen in around 1912, fully lined out in middle chrome green and finished off with the addition of an oval brass builder’s plate beneath the smokebox which reads ‘Great Western Railway Company, Didcot Works, 2018’.
Read more in the July 2019 issue of The RM – on sale now!
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