First steaming of 1466

After the Great Western Society had its origins in 1961, it took three years to raise the £750 to buy locomotive No 1466. It was initially delivered to a siding we were able to use in Totnes, Devon. We didn't move to Didcot until November 1967.

By 1964 the original four schoolboys (now 19 years old) had been joined by slightly older and more established people on the committee, among them Ken Williams, who was now the society's chairman, and Peter Lemar who was an architect for Torquay council.

In April 1964 four of us who lived in Southall and Hounslow, west London, went to Totnes to see 1466 for the first time. Ken Williams drove, and Graham Perry, Angus Davis and myself were passengers in his new Ford Anglia.

We set off early on a Saturday morning and arrived at Peter's house in Torquay for lunch, as arranged. Over the meal, Peter suggested we might steam the loco that afternoon. He reckoned he had picked up the theory of engine driving from visiting locomotive sheds to inspect the one we might buy, and Angus volunteered his experience at driving 5 inch gauge miniature steam engines at Harlington Locomotive Society.

So we went to Totnes after lunch, lit up a fire and raised steam in two or three hours. The intention had been to clean the loco, and my grandmother had donated an old sheet to use as polishing rags. We used the sheet as a ribbon to tie across the gate posts of the siding, and steamed though it! The film shows that historic moment when we drove our locomotive for the first time.