Unique steam loco completed in 2019 returns to Severn Valley Railway this summer

Saint class locomotive No. 2999 Lady of Legend will arrive at SVR in June and stay until September.

Its visit will be the third time the passenger loco has visited from the Didcot Railway Centre, where it was created using parts from another locomotive.

Lady of Legend is a new representative of the Great Western Railway Saint class. The original 77 locos were built between 1902 and 1913 and pulled passenger trains until the last examples were withdrawn in 1953.

All 77 examples were scrapped.

Enthusiasts at Didcot spent more than 40 years converting a similar Hall class locomotive into a Saint, with work completed in 2019.

Painted in Great Western Railway green that the original locos wore in the early 20th century, Lady of Legend visited the SVR in 2021 and 2022 - the former visit being its first heritage railway appearance after completion.

"It’s wonderful to be welcoming back this popular visitor,’ said Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster, the SVR’s managing director.

"We are very grateful to Great Western Preservation Limited and Didcot Railway Centre for allowing us to have the ever-popular Lady of Legend back, and we’re particularly pleased that this extended visit will allow so many visitors the chance to see and travel behind this unique locomotive."

The loco is expected to arrive on the SVR by the middle of June and will feature on the roster for summer services and the Step Back to the 1940s events before starring in the railway’s popular Autumn Steam Gala in late September.

Exact operating dates are yet to be confirmed.