Taff Vale Railway No.28

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Taff Vale Railway No.28

We are pleased to announce an exciting project to restore the last-surviving Welsh-built standard gauge steam locomotive to operational condition.

The Taff Vale Project is a unique partnership between the Gwili Vintage Carriage Group (GVCG), the Llangollen Railway and the National Railway Museum. It is currently focused upon the cosmetic overhaul the last-surviving Welsh-built standard gauge steam locomotive: Taff Vale Railway O1 class 0-6-2T No. 28. In view of this ambition, the Taff Vale Project has several aims:

1. Administer an appeal f

or funding to return Taff Vale No. 28 to public display.
2. Use the completed locomotive as a basis to educate the public about the importance of the railways in developing the Welsh economy during the early 20th century.
3. To create a static display on the Gwili Railway using appropriate rolling stock owned by the GVCG, thereby creating the first complete ‘Welsh Train’ in preservation.
4. To continue to liaise with all project partners to discuss future project developments. Project administration is undertaken by the GVCG, which hopes to raise funds towards the anticipated £10,000 cost of the cosmetic overhaul. This willl include repair and replacement of corroded material, reassembly of the locomotive and transport to the Gwili Railway. We believe that this is an eminently achievable project that will ensure that the locomotive will once again be seen by the general public, and will form a tangible object that will aid long-term planning. The GVCG therefore welcomes all assistance whether financial or practical, and should you have any memories of the locomotive in its previous periods of operation, we would very much like to hear from you. For donations/information, contact:

GVCG c/o Gwili Steam Railway,
Bronwydd Arms Railway Station,
Bronwydd Arms,
Carmarthen,
Dyfed
SA33 6HT. Please send a covering letter stating your name and address, and your preference for the Taff Vale Project. Cheques should be payable to GVCG. You may also contact us by email on:

[email protected]

We hope you chose to support this project and we look forward to hearing from you.

18/02/2026

Taff Vale 51 has arrived!🚃🎉

We’re delighted to confirm that Taff Vale Railway Coach No. 51 has arrived at Gwili Railway!

Built in 1883, this historic coach is now part of our growing collection of Taff Vale rolling stock, joining TVR No. 28 and TVR Carriage No. 220 to help tell the story of Welsh railway heritage.

A huge thank you to the National Welsh Museum for donating this important piece of Welsh railway history to us. We’re so excited to welcome No. 51 to our railway for display - and we can’t wait to share it with visitors very soon!💚

08/08/2025

Steam Update

This Wednesday marked a small but significant step in the finalising of the overhaul cost of Taff Vale No.28. Whilst the main focus of the last 18 months has been the overhaul of Haulwen a small team has been working in the background to revise and update the overhaul costs for TVR 28.

As part of this work Wednesday saw us visited by David Abbe of Fides NDT services. David was down to carry out a detailed NDT survey of the boiler. This report will help us finalise the list of repairs the boiler needs and there likely cost. This is then the final piece in the puzzle in working out the likely overhaul cost of 28.

We will be launching a fund raising appeal for the overhauof the loco this autumn, if you would like to support the return to steam of TVR 28 in the interim you can make a donation via the following link and it will go in to a ring fenced pot for the loco.

https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/14275

05/07/2025

The team was on site today to return the slide bars after machining, and moving various other items in to the stores at Bronwydd.
Focus then turned to helping the gwili MPD team demolish the old stores and clear the site at the rear of the shed at Bronwydd Arms.
The shed extension is where No28 will live during overhaul, so it's important that we help out to get it done ASAP.
It was also great to see 'Haulwen', fresh from overhaul running past.

As always, if you would like to get involved, please message the page.

01/04/2025

Today we collected No28's 8 slide bars from Weldlec engineering in Port Talbot, where they have been machined in their workshops.

Thank you to Weldlec engineering for fitting these in to their schedule.

Photo by Andrew Lewis

01/03/2025

Some of the team were on site today giving 28 her spring wash down.
The slide bars were also loaded up ready to go to a contractor this week for machining

We will be organising monthly working parties this year working on the boiler as well as manufacturing new components.

Keep an eye out for working party dates.

If you are interested in getting involved with returning 28 to steam, please message the page.

No skills are required, but we are especially looking for people with engineering experience to work with our team.

29/06/2024

With the weather changing a bit for the better, some of the team met today at Llwyfan Cerrig to give 28 a much needed clean.

We then progressed stay removal from the firebox, which is a long job, but essential to enable the removal of the inner firebox.

At the end if the day, we headed down to Bronwydd to see the excellent progress the motive power department were making with locomotive Haulwen.

If you would like to get involved please message the page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/664650864933570/?ref=share

24/06/2023

A productive working party today. Iain and Paddy cleaned up the crosshead slippers. David stripped the steam brake cylinder and cleaned and painted the parts. Unfortunately the piston rings were stuck and broke on removal so will need replacements. I carried on with stay drilling- Another 53 drilled out to 12mm and a handful up to 15mm. We also measured up the slidebars for replacement bolts.Also an interesting discovery on the crank axle - guaranteed for 150,000miles.

27/05/2023

It was a beautiful day today at Llwyfan Cerrig. The team progressed the removal of the copper stays, and some good work was done on this.

This is a long job, but it's necessary to allow us to remove the inner firebox for repairs.

The team also took advantage of the nice weather and progressed cleaning up and painting of the smoke box saddle.

We still have lots of work to do, and we really need your help, whether it's coming along and helping out with the work, or if you are able to help us fundraising. No skills are needed (although if you have some, that would be great), and full training will be given.

If you are interested in getting involved, please message the page, and feel free to share this post so we can share the message if what we are doing.

Thanks

29/04/2023

The sun was out and so were the team with Sarah, Gareth and Dave joined by George who was visiting from the USA. Work progressed with drilling out boiler stays with another 40 completed. The Weighshaft bearings were stripped, cleaned and trial fitted. With a definite rattle fit a new set will be required.

16/04/2023

A bit of homework on 28. The sole surviving whistle valve stripped down and cleaned up. Unfortunately the end cap has been damaged at some point so will require a new one making.

26/03/2023

Number 28 was oiled up yesterday in preparation for a yard shunt.

Address

Caerfyrddin

Website

http://www.taffvalerailway28.co.uk/

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