Steam Trains Taw Valley Southern Railway West Country class

Steam Trains Taw Valley Southern Railway West Country class 4-6-2 Steam Locomotive Episode 3 of 8

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Power type Steam
Designer Oliver Bulleid
Builder Brighton Works
Build date April 1946
Rebuild date September 1957

No. 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. It was later rebuilt in 1957 to its current shape and was re-allocated to Bricklayer's Arms, and then followed by a transfer to Brighton in 1961 and Salisbury in 1963 where she was to remain for the rest of its days working for BR until August 1964 when it was withdrawn from service and towed to Barry Scrapyard.

Taw Valley was named after the river that flows through Devon and Dartmoor. It was one of thirty-six "West Country" light pacifics 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 is post BR and was added in 2015, following the completion of its most recent overhaul.