Gwr 813 Preservation Fund

The Fund is a voluntary organisation to acquire, restore and preserve in working order Great Western Railway 0-6-0 Saddle Tank locomotive 813

The Fund is a voluntary organisation founded in 1966 to acquire, restore and preserve in working order ex-Great Western Railway 0-6-0 Saddle Tank locomotive 813 (formerly Port Talbot & Docks Railway 26), one of the last survivors of the many tank locomotives absorbed into the GWR in the first quarter of the 20th century from formerly independent railways in South Wales. The locomotive was purchased from the National Coal Board in 1967 and moved in the same year from Backworth Colliery, Northumberland, to the Severn Valley Railway where the lengthy task of restoration was subsequently commenced. In 1968, following an initial need to acquire a suitable covered van in which to store components and spare parts, the Fund extended its interests to include the preservation of selected items of ex-GWR rolling stock, eventually amassing a collection of almost one hundred vehicles, most of which are now accommodated at a number of heritage railway sites in the Midlands, South and South West England. The Fund obtains its finance from members contributions, locomotive hire fees and from the proceeds of sales stands and other fund raising activities. In due course it is intended that the '813 Fund' will become a charitable trust or other similar organisation in order to safeguard the future of its assets and possibly give access to other sources of income