SR West Country class 21C127 Taw Valley
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| SR 21C127 / BR 34027 Taw Valley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 SR 34027 Taw Valley on display at London Bridge in March 1991 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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21C127 Taw Valley is a Southern Railway West Country class 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive that has been preserved. It is presently operational at the Severn Valley Railway.
Career
21C127 was built in April 1946 at the SR's Brighton Works and was named Taw Valley, the name coming from the name of a river in Devon. She was originally allocated to Ramsgate followed by Exmouth Junction in 1947. In 1948 when British Railways was formed and the four pre grouping companys were merged into one she was renumbered from 21C127 to 34027. She was later rebuilt in 1957 to her current shape and was re-allocated to Brighton, and then followed by a transfer to Salisbury in 1963 where she was to remain for the rest of her days working for BR until August 1964 when she was withdrawn from service and towed to Barry Scrapyard.
Naming
Taw Valley was named after the river that flows through Devon and Dartmoor. She was one of thirty six "West Country" light pacific's to be named but not have a coat of arms applied during her service days, the coat of arms that she currently wears with her nameplate being post BR added in 2015 following the completion of her most recent overhaul.
Withdrawal and preservation
34027 was withdrawn from service in August 1964 and was towed to Barry Scrapyard.
She was rescued for preservation in 1980 by Bert Hitchen and was moved away from Barry Island to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where her restoration began, she was later moved to the East Lancashire Railway, but in August 1985 she was once again moved, to the Severn Valley Railway, where her restoration continued. Her restoration was completed in October 1987 and she then began her trail running, but did not enter service on the Severn Valley Railway until June 1988.
Return to steam
34027's restoration from Barry Scrapyard condition was completed in October 1987 and following the completion of her running in period entered service on the Severn Valley Railway in June 1988, with a formal renaming ceremony taking place on 4 June that year. Alongside her work on the mainline she did put in mileage on the SVR until 1992 when she departed from the Railway. She returned to the SVR as a resident in 2001, when her owner Bert Hitchen put her up for sale and she was acquired by SVR member Phil Swallow. Following her withdrawal from the mainline she was disguised as scrapped sister 34036 Westward Ho Following an appearance at the SVR's Autumn Steam Gala in 2005 she was withdrawn from service requiring a complete overhaul.
Taw Valley's most recent overhaul began in the spring of 2006. She was reunited with her boiler in time for the 2012 Autumn Steam Gala when newly allocated resident to the railway and classmate 34053 "Sir Keith Park" was running at the line's autumn steam gala. She was completed and run in in-time to haul an incoming "British Pullman" railtour on 16 May 2015 from Bewdley to Bridgnorth. The train, consisted of 12 pullman coaches and a class 67 diesel. 34027 Taw Valley is the only operational steam loco on the railway (apart from 600 Gordon) to be equipped with air-braking to operate air-braked rolling stock.
Mainline service
Alongside being based on SVR her owner Bert decided to take her back out onto the mainline in 1989, and following a test run from Derby to Sheffield she became a regular mainline runner. She worked regular tours including "The North Wales Coast Express", "Welsh Marches Express" and "Cumbrian Mountain Express" from 1989 to 1994. Her most famous mainline duties included pulling the Venice-Simplon Orient Express on day trips from London to locations around the former southern region including Portsmouth. During this time she was based at Stewarts Lane TMD alongside fellow VSOE engine SR Merchant Navy class 35028 Clan Line.
Beyond 2000, 34027 was still a regular runner on the mainline and for a brief period was painted maroon with Hogwarts Express nameplates to promote the Harry Potter series. It was suggested that she be used as the locomotive in the first film of the series when it was being worked on, but was rejected by films director Chris Columbus as she looked too modern; 5972 Olton Hall was chosen instead.
She was then sold by Bert Hitchen to SVR-based member Phil Swallow, and mainline running continued until May 2005, when she was retired from the mainline and shortly afterwards retired for overhaul. During this time she was disguised as scrapped sister engines 34045 Ottery St Mary and 34036 Westward Ho.
As of 2018[update] her owner had no plans to put 34027 back on the main line. Being fitted with air braking. she can haul air-braked charter trains along the SVR.