THE West Somerset Railway (WSR) will have two iconic steam locomotives back on the rails in 30 months’ time, it was claimed this week by their owners the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA).

The association gave the latest target date as 2028 for the overhaul and completion of the Great Western Railway ‘Small Prairie’ 4561 and British Railways ‘Standard 4MT’ 80064.

Both tank engines are said to be eminently suitable for use on the WSR’s 20 miles of line from Minehead to Bishops Lydeard.

Engine 4561 was built in Swindon in 1924 and began its working life in the West Midlands.

However, most of its time with the GWR, and later with British Railways, was spent in the Westcountry based in Truro and Newton Abbot.

During its spell in Devon, it became a regular performer on the branch line between Brent and Kingsbridge before it was withdrawn and spent 13 years in the scrapyard in Barry until the WSRA purchased it in 1975.

The majority of the restoration work is being carried out in workshops in Williton, but specialist boiler work is being undertaken by Riley and Sons, in Bury.

Another volunteer team is constructing new water tanks, working to original GWR drawings, in the Minehead workshops.

The Standard 4 MT is almost half-a-century younger, having emerged from Brighton engine works in 1953.

Initially, it worked on the southern end of the West Coast mainline but soon went to the Southern Region of BR, in Kent.

The lines in the ‘Garden of England’ were electrified in the early 1960s and the engine came west.

While based in Exmouth Junction, it was a regular performer in East Devon and on the Exmouth line.

It, too, spent time in Barry but was rescued from scrap by the 80064 Locomotive Group and initial restoration and a return to work was carried out on the Dart Valley Railway, now the South Devon Railway.

In the 1980s it moved to the Bluebell Railway and was resident there until the 80064 Group presented it to the WSRA in 2023.

Work on its return to steam is also underway in Williton.

A WSRA spokesperson said: “Overhauling steam locomotives and returning them to working life is a protracted and expensive business with the costs involved running into multiples of six figures.

“The WSRA is raising funds separately for each engine and donations to either locomotive’s fund can be made via the West Somerset Railway Association’s website, or cheques payable to ‘West Somerset Railway Association’.

“Please indicate which locomotive the donation is for.”

The association’s chairman, Edward Martin, said: “Ever since the association was founded in the early 1970s we have aimed to support the West Somerset Railway, and as it enters its 50th anniversary of train operations we are looking at our steam locomotives being at work in the decades to come.

“And once the two tank engines are complete, we have another project to work on in the form of 7821 ‘Ditcheat Manor’ and its tender.”