STEAM locomotive GWR 14XX no.1466 has been relaunched by the Didcot Railway Centre, in Oxfordshire, thanks in part to West Somerset Railway (WSR) volunteers.

The locomotive’s extensive restoration work, including comprehensive boiler rebuilding, was completed in WSR workshops in Williton.

A WSR spokesperson said: “We are proud of our team, well done to all who worked on this loco for the excellent results of their hard work.”

No.1466 had not steamed since 2000 until earlier this year when it left its Great Western Society base in Didcot and travelled to the WSR line for its restoration to working order to be completed.

Built in Swindon in 1936, no.4866, renumbered in 1946 as no.1466, was designed to work on the most lightly used GWR branch lines, such as the Totnes-Ashburton, the Exe Valley lines serving Tiverton, Bampton, and Dulverton, and Yatton to Clevedon.

It spent nearly all of its time based in Newton Abbot until just before its withdrawal it moved to Taunton.

There, it had no practical use and spent most of its time cold in the yard until official withdrawal, later becoming a founding part of the Great Western Society’s collection in Didcot.

WSR general manager Kerry Noble said: “The West Somerset has had a good working relationship with the Great Western Society for many years and this year we have welcomed their recreated ‘Saint’ 2999 ‘Lady of Legend’ as a guest addition to our fleet.

“The team at Williton have completed a number of restorations and overhauls in recent times and are working on a locomotives for the West Somerset Railway Association which we hope to see working in the not too distant future.

“This is Great Western ‘Small Prairie’ 4561 a surviving member of a class of engine once familiar on the branch lines from Taunton to Barnstaple, Chard, Minehead, and Yeovil.”