This class R4 locomotive was built by Peckett & Sons in 1949 for the Southern Gas Board. It was initially based at the Blackwater Gas Works but later moved to the Hilsea Gas Works at Portsmouth.
It last steamed in 1972.
After being taken out of service at Hilsea the locomotive was taken into the ownership of the Portsmouth City Museum.
Initially the locomotive was stored at the Hilsea Gas Works at Portsmouth.
The Portsmouth City Museum loaned the locomotive to the GWR Preservation Group at Southall for an initial five year period with an option to further extend it. The locomotive moved to Southall in November 1983 and restoration work then started with the aim of having it back in steam in 1985.
It then appears that the locomotive spent some time at the East Anglia Railway Museum as it was reported as being there by the Industrial Railway Society in 2006. It then moved to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre where it was steamed.
At the end of September 2016 the locomotive moved to the Helston Railway who had purchased it.
The locomotive was then dismantled and an overhaul commenced.
The aim was to have the locomotive operational during 2018 but it was reported in the summer of 2020 that it was still being overhauled.
Preserved British Steam Locomotives 