A GWR‘64XX’0-6-0PT is due to take up residence once again on theWest Somerset Railway (WSR), after a member of the class was acquired by one of the line’s leading lights.
Auto-fitted 1937-built No. 6435, and 1951-builtWR auto-trailer No. 232 have been bought from the Bodmin Railway byWSR plc chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt’s JJP Holdings company for use on theWSR.
The loco and carriage were among several items of rolling stock offered for sale by the Cornish line early in the New Year. On January 2, David Nelson-Brown, Bodmin Railway chairman said:“It is with a heavy heart that the Bodmin Railway is considering the sale of locomotive No. 6435. It is a loco much loved by crews and very capable on our steeply graded line, but financial pressures require us to release this capital. The loco last ran in 2022 when its boiler ticket expired. It had new tyres fitted in 2021. It is of course complete and has been dry stored since expiry of its ticket.