Welshpool Powys Wales United Kingdom - A steam locomotive that was formerly a mainstay of the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (WLLR) fleet is to return to service after being out of use for more than 13 years.
 
Trustees on the 2 foot 6 inch gauge mid-Wales line have approved the restoration of number 699.01, "Sir Drefaldwyn", which has not steamed since May 2000.
 
Built in 1944 for the German military by Societe Franco-Belge in occupied France to a design by Berliner Maschinenbau AG (Schwartzkopff), the locomotive was intended to support the German Army on the Eastern Front.
 
However it is believed that it did not see service before the German rail stores depot fell to Allied occupation forces, and instead it passed in 1946 to the Salkzkammergut Lokalbahn near Salzburg in Austria.
 
The loco spent 23 years on the Austrian narrow gauge, during which it was sold to the Steiermärkische Landesbahnen (StLB) in 1955.
 
Here it received its 699.01 number and was rebuilt from an 0-8-0 side tank and tender configuration to become a purely side tank engine.
 
It operated freight trains on the StLB's Feistritztalbahn branch line until 1965 when it was withdrawn from service and stored.
 
Soon after the WLLR formed strong links with the Austrian lines, which were of the same gauge (760 millimetres equals 2.493438 inches), and the result was the arrival in Wales of the first of the signature Austrian balcony-ended carriages in 1968.
 
The WLLR badly needed another locomotive, and the same Austrian links revealed number 699.01.
 
An inspection showed that the loco was in basically good condition, and with members donating the £1,200 cost, the loco arrived in Llanfair Caereinion on 11 Dec 1969.
 
Number 699.01, now named "Sir Drefaldwyn", the Welsh name for Montgomeryshire, entered service on the railway in May 1970 and became the first loco to haul official service trains other than the two Beyer Peacock tanks built for the line's opening in 1903.
 
Over the next two decades "Sir Drefaldwyn" proved a stalwart member of the WLLR fleet, particularly renowned for its heavy-hauling capability.
 
However at the end of the 1990s major boiler repairs became necessary and the loco was withdrawn when its boiler ticket expired on 7 May 2000.
 
Now the railway has need of a heavy hauler, and following a detailed study of the various future locomotive options, and consultation with WLLR members, number 699.01 has been chosen to be restored.
 
The loco has already been transferred from the display shed at Welshpool, where it has been on show for some years, to the workshops at Llanfair Caereinion.
 
Work will begin immediately with the removal of the boiler for dispatch to a specialist contractor for refurbishment.
 
It is hoped that the restoration will take around a year in total, with much of the work being carried out at Llanfair by the railway's own volunteers and staff.
 
The cost is currently estimated to be around £62,000, and early in the new year an appeal will be launched among the railway's members and supporters in order to raise funds to support the restoration.
 
WLLR chairman Alan Higgins said that the trustees were delighted with the response and consultation with the membership over the plans.
 
"The board of trustees welcomed the support shown for this project, which like the recent restoration of Kerr Stuart "Joan", will see another of the line's originally-restored locomotives returned to active service," Alan added.
 
Robin Jones.