The spirit of the 'Saint' Class has been reborn at the Didcot Railway Centre, 66 years after the final 'Saints' were withdrawn from British Railways' service in 1953.
The 'Saint' Class represents a huge turning point in UK steam locomotive design during the 20th century, as a class that would influence a lineage of subsequent 4-6-0 designs across numerous railway companies. With all 77 original members of the 2900 'Saint' Class scrapped upon withdrawal, if a Saint was to steam in preservation it would have to be a 'New-Build'. Starting out with the remains of 4900 'Hall' Class - 4942 "Maindy Hall", the Great Western Society - based at the Didcot Railway Centre - began the task of converting the Hall into a Saint Class. The 'Hall' Class was designed as a direct development of the 'Saint' Class, allowing a strong starting point for the Society to work from.
The decision was taken to back-convert the locomotive into the form of an early Saint, from the 'Lady Series'; with straight frames beneath the cab, and square drop-ends in front of the cylinders. In this configuration, it allows the Society to accurately convert the locomotive into an Atlantic 4-4-2 in the future, as per numerous 'Saints' appeared during their working lives, with minimal engineering work required.
After many years of hard-graft, the fruits of Society's efforts are now evident, with 2900 'Saint' Class - 2999 "Lady of Legend" raising steam as it begins its working life in preservation. There are still a handful of jobs left to do before 'The Lady' will be completely finished, but for all the volunteers behind the project, today marked a spectacular engineering triumph.
With regards to the 'off-beat' valve timings: Owing to engineering delays, time ran out for the group to rectify the valve-timings before the public launch. The Society are aware of the 'off-beat' timings.
All footage filmed on Friday the 5th of April 2019.