Built Swindon 1946. 3205 is one of 120 locomotives of the 2251 Class designed by Collett for use on lightly laid lines in Wales and to replace ageing locomotives from various constituent Companies that were absorbed into the GWR at the 1922 grouping. They were in fact the last design of 0-6-0 tender engines to enter service in the UK. They had fairly large driving wheels at 5'2" diameter and the same boiler that was used on the 9400 Class Pannier tanks.
The 2251 Class also found employment on other lighter duties on the Western Region and 3205 eventually found itself on Somerset & Dorset metals after that section was taken over from the Southern Region. When 3205 was withdrawn from service in 1965 it was bought for preservation by the '2251 Fund' to become the only member of its class to survive. In the first instance it was moved to Buckfastleigh for restoration but went on to the Severn Valley Railway in 1967. It was used there for several years before moving on to the West Somerset Railway for another few years. In 1998 it moved to its present base on the South Devon Railway where it has had to receive attention to a broken crank axle sustained in traffic on the West Somerset Railway just a week before its planned move to Buckfastleigh. This repair has cost in the region of £14,000.
The replacement axle has now been returned and fitted. The locomotive is expected to return to traffic at the end of May 1999 for the "Everything Goes" weekend.
Due to the very tight tolerences that the axle has been rebuilt to we had to run the locomotive in carefully by working it "turn and turn about" with our ex GWR 0-4-2T 1420. The locomotive has now entered full service ( ) and be found hauling trains to Totnes nearly 30 years after it was saved with a view to working the Ashburton Branch.
Update March 2006 The Locomotive has now returned from its year away and will be entering Buckfastleigh Works for a full ten year overhaul Have a look at : http://www.southdevonrailway.org/News-and-Press-Releases/3205rtn.html
© South Devon Railway Trust 2006
