GWR 2900 Class No. 2999 Lady of Legend

GWR 2900 "Saint" Class No. 2999 Lady of Legend is a 4-6-0 steam locomotive completed in 2019 to a design by George Jackson Churchward. It was based on the frames and boiler of 4900 "Hall" Class No. 4942 Maindy Hall, and was largely constructed at Didcot Railway Centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, where it is now based. Described as "building the 78th Saint", the project started in the 1970s to look at building a new 'Saint', since none of the original class-members were preserved.
==Maindy Hall==
No. 4942 Maindy Hall was a 4-6-0 locomotive of the GWR's 4900 Hall class. It was built in 1929 at Swindon. After being withdrawn from service in 1963, it was moved to Woodham Brothers Scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan (South Wales) in 1964 and was bought by the Didcot Railway Centre in 1974, who also bought 5900 "Hinderton Hall".
==The Saint project==
Following the formation of the society in the 1970s a plan was formed to build a new 2900 Saint, since none of the original class members were preserved (the last class member being no 2920 Saint David which was withdrawn from service in October 1953 and was sent straight for scrap (despite a preservation attempt being made to save the loco).
It was decided to rebuild 4942 "Maindy Hall" from scrapyard condition (there being another ten members of the 4900 Hall class in preservation). This is appropriate as the original 4900 class prototype of 1925 was converted from 2900 class engine Saint Martin. It was also decided (like 60163 Tornado) to number the locomotive as a new member of the class, sequential to the highest-numbered original Saint, No.2998, Ernest Cunard. An early production lot of Saints were named after historical, mythological or poetical 'Ladies', which corresponds with the name Lady of Legend chosen for 2999.
The original driving wheels for the Hall were 6 feet (1.83 m) in size while the size of the driving wheels for a Saint were 6 feet 8+1⁄2 inches (2.04 m), the front bogie wheels were also smaller than those for a Saint as they were 3 feet (0.91 m) and the front bogie wheels for a Saint were 3 feet 2 inches (0.97 m). Some of the parts used in the construction of 2999 are original GWR parts that had at one time been fitted to Saints, including a connecting rod from 2906 "Lady of Lynn" and whistle from 2910 "Lady of Shalott". The chimney is also an original part, but is from a 6800 class 4-6-0. The engine was largely constructed in an early configuration, with straight frames, lever reversing gear and a flush riveted tender tank, but for practical reasons there are a number of components and features that are later in design than the Lady series as they originally left the factory.
The intended plan for 2999 Lady of Legend after it was completed and running was to have the engine mainline certified, for this the engines height had to be reduced from 13 feet 3+1⁄2 inches (4.05 m) to 13 feet 1 inch (3.99 m) this now being the max permitted height for all steam locomotives operating on the mainline because of overhead wire clearances. 2999 was therefore built with reduced height but wasn't yet being fitted with the required equipment for mainline operations in the 21st century, the equipment required for mainline running include: Automatic Warning System (a similar system called Automatic Train Control was used by the GWR), Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS), Black Box Recorders (OTMR), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM-R) and also a speedometer which had also not yet been fitted to 2999. In 2019 an announcement was made by Didcot regarding mainline running, due to width issues with the locomotive on select routes aswell as the costs of mainline running compared to operating on heritage railways, Didcot would no longer be operating their locomotives on the mainline. This as a result means that for the forseeable future the engine will only be operated at Didcot or moved by road to other heritage railways.
==Naming 2999==
Many names were submitted in a competition run by the group which were constructing 2999 and the name eventually chosen was "Lady of Legend". Other names that were submitted in the competition to name the new engine included: "Lady in Waiting", "Lady Diana" (Princess Diana of Wales), "Lady of Lourdes", "Saint Dai" (Dai Woodham), "Maindy Court" (reference to donor loco 4942 Maindy Hall), "Prince Charles" (now King Charles III as of 2024), "John Betjeman" and "Phoenix".
==Atlantic option==
An integral part of the Saint project is the 'Atlantic option'. Although it is intended by the Saint project that the completed engine will run primarily in its 4-6-0 configuration as a Saint because of the then plan to go mainline, it is planned to have the engine run for a period during its first 10-year boiler certificate as a 4-4-2 Atlantic. The number it is expected to carry when converted into its 4-4-2 Atlantic form is 191 and the names include: "Atlantic" and "Churchward". This mirrors the original Saint class of which 13 were built as 4-4-2s for comparative purposes and later converted to 4-6-0s.
== Gallery ==
File:2999@DRC-Cred-DRC.jpg
File:481b634d6046085ae21c41d0adb0c7fe.jpg
File:GWR Saint class 2999 'Lady of Legend'.jpg
==External links==
*Official website on Wayback Machine
*2999 Lady of Legend at Didcot
*Building a Saint documentary
Category:Rebuilds
Category:Didcot Railway
Category:Built in 2019
Category:Standard gauge steam locomotives of Great Britain
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:Preserved steam locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Great Western Railway locomotives
Category:4-6-0 steam locomotives
Category:4-6-0 locomotives
Category:GWR 2900 Class