14XX No 1450

1450 was built in 1935 and spent nearly all of her GWR life based at the Oxford shed.  In preservation her current livery is GWR and she carries the appropriate shed code to match this.  She alternated between Oxford and Slough sheds for most of her life until moving down West to Exeter in 1962.  Whilst at Oxford she worked the Abingdon to Radley and Woodstock to Oxford auto services.  At slough she took her turn on the famed 'Marlow Donkey' and also worked the Slough to Windsor auto services.

Her last heavy general repair was at Wolverhampton in 1961 when the present boiler was put on.  She is the only one of the four preserved 14XX class to be in as-built condition without top-feed.

Towards the end of the steam era she moved around a bit between Exeter, Taunton (Tiverton Junction), Yeovil and Exmouth Junction (former S.R shed).

It is an ironic twist of fate that the last GWR style auto trains ran on SR metals between Seaton and Seaton Junction.  The last two locos in service were 1442 and 1450 using GWR style Hawksworth trailers.  1442 worked the last day of steam auto working on the 13th March 1965. She failed and the service was worked by a taxi!!  The last auto trains of all worked on the LMR and finished later the same year.

1450 was bought direct from BR by the old Dart Valley Railway (together with 1420, 6412, 6430 and 6435).  When she was sold to the present owners the loco was overhauled at Plasser-Theurer works at West Ealing.  Several years later she had a heavy boiler repair at the L&NWR's works at Crewe.

Since leaving the DVR (Now the SDR) the loco has been seen at a number of heritage railways including a previous visit to the Llangollen Railway.  During one memorable weekend she worked between the Thrall European wagon works at York and the NRM (National Railway Museum) also at York. 

During the gala 1450 will be running with auto coach No 178 which is visiting from the Dean Forest Railway, more information on this auto coach can be found by clicking on the following Link - auto coach No 178.

Many thanks to Mike Little for providing the information above.

Principal Dimensions

Shed Allocations