5199 History
Built in 1934, she was allocated to Tyseley to work suburban traffic in the Birmingham area. In 1949 she transferred to Stourbridge Junction were she stayed until 1961 when she moved to Stafford Road in Wolverhampton. Two years later she moved to Horton Road in Gloucester from where she was withdrawn a few months later, and sold to Woodham’s Scrapyard.
In 1985 she was purchased by the Great Western Locomotive Group and moved to the Gloucester Warwickshire Railway at Toddington. However the GWSLG broke up and the 5199 Project Group was formed to concentrate solely on the restoration of 5199. In 1988 she moved to Llangollen for work to continue but she was then again moved to Long Marston in 1990 as it was closer to members of the group. Progress was at first slow, and it took until 1995 for the frames to be re-wheeled. In 1996 though she was moved back to Llangollen, and her frames were displayed at Carrog during the line’s Great Western Festival that year. Complications arose from the decision to send the tanks away for repair offsite, as they didn’t fit upon their return. Much juggling was required before the side tanks, bunker, and cab roof were all refitted in 1998. Restoration continued as fund raising via a shop at Carrog permitted. The shop was run mainly by the Project’s Chairman Terry McGuinness, and eventually enough was raised to complete the restoration, culminating in the loco’s first move under its own power for 40 years in February 2003.
Since then she has primarily been based at the Llangollen Railway, but has visited the Great Central, West Somerset, Severn Valley, Gloucester & Warwickshire Railways and even made a return to Barry Island in 2004. In 2008 she was sent on an extended stay to the Bluebell Railway in Sussex to help them cover a shortage of locos. In early 2009 she visited the Churnet Valley Railway for their Winter Gala prior to her return to Llangollen. After appearing in the 6880 Betton Grange Society’s “Steel, Steam & Stars 2” gala event at Llangollen in April 2009, she returned to the CVR to cover for a shortage of locos there. She stayed there until the beginning of Feb 2012, then returned to Llangollen for a role in the Steel, Steam and Stars III gala.
5199 is currently running at the West Somerset Railway and will be for the 2022 season.
5199 in Steam
5199, steamed for the first time on Sunday 2nd March 2003.
The weather was fine for the day which saw 5199 steam officially for the first time since her rescue from Barry almost 20 years ago, and 40 years since she last saw use on British Railways.
The event was an invitation day for all members of the group to see the results of many thousands of hours of volunteer effort in restoring 5199 to her former glory
