34027 Taw Valley (SR 21C127 & BR 34027)

Taw Valley was built in 1946 at the SR’s Brighton Works. It was originally allocated to Ramsgate where it entered service as SR number 21C127. The locomotive was re-numbered 34027 by BR following nationalisation.

In 1947 Taw Valley moved to Exmouth Junction, working mainly in Devon and Cornwall. Here the locomotive would have hauled named trains such as the Atlantic Coast Express and Devon Belle.

BR motive power depot allocations since 1948.

Date Arrived	Depot
January 1948	Exmouth Junction
September 1957	Bricklayers Arms
February 1958	Ramsgate
May 1959	Bricklayers Arms
May 1961	Brighton
August 1963	Salisbury

Following the rebuild of Taw Valley at Eastleigh in September 1957, the locomotive was allocated to Bricklayers Arms depot in Southeast London. Taw Valley continued to work in this area until electrification of the line in 1961. It then worked commuter services from its original site of construction at Brighton until transferred to Salisbury in 1963 and withdrawn from service by BR in August 1964.

In December 1964 it was towed to Woodhams Brothers scrapyard in Barry, South Wales. Here it was neglected and left to rust for 16 years until purchased by Bert Hitchen in 1980 and left the scrapyard in April of that year.

The locomotive was initially moved to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for restoration, followed by a spell at the East Lancashire Railway. The restoration was finally completed at the Severn Valley Railway in 1987.

Taw Valley was usually seen running under the guise of long since scrapped sister engine 34045 Ottery St Mary and was a regular performer on VSOE excursions.

It was taken out of service in 2006.

Following a length overhaul at Bridgnorth, on the Severn Valley Railway, Taw Valley re-entered service in May 2015. As part of the overhaul the South Devon Railway undertook an extremely comprehensive rebuild of the boiler. The contract was originally started at Tavistock under the auspices of R K Pridham Engineering, and was then transferred to Buckfastleigh when Pridham’s boiler repair business was bought out by South Devon Railway Engineering.

By April 2022 the locomotive will appear in a purple livery to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and will also carry a different name which will be decided by a public vote. The locomotive will return to a BR green livery later in the year.

The locomotive was unveiled in purple livery in May 2022.

The locomotive will be painted in black livery at the end of 2022 and will wear that until it is withdrawn from service for overhaul in the autumn of 2023 after which it will appear in BR green livery.