GWR 0-6-0 No 3205 departs Staverton for Buckfastleigh on 11April 2004

Agreement has been reached with the Trustees of the 2251 Fund over the future of their locomotive 3205. The engine, which has been based at Buckfastleigh for the last few years, except 2005, will be returning to the railway shortly. It spent 2005 working on the Gloucester & Warwickshire Railway as the SDR was well blessed with home grown motive power for the year. The locomotive's boiler ticket expired at the end of the year and it is now due a ten year overhaul. Under the agreement the engine will be overhauled at the SDR's expense in return for the use of the locomotive for the duration of its ten year ticket.
 
The locomotive originally arrived at Buckfastleigh on October 2nd 1965 when the first stock came onto the branch under the auspices of the Dart Valley Railway. It subsequently moved on to the Severn Valley Railway where it became one of their first working locomotives during the formative years of the restoration of their line. After a spell at the West Somerset it found itself back at Buckfastleigh in the late 1990's when it arrived with a broken crank axle sustained shortly before the planned date of its transfer to Buckfastleigh. After repair it has spent the last few years on the SDR where it became a firm favourite with crews and passengers alike. It combines being a tender engine which makes it very attractive with being small and economical - an ideal locomotive for a preserved branch line.
 
The intention is to begin the overhaul after the completion of 4160 (contract repair for the WSR based owners) and the SDR's own 3803, alongside the repair of SDR based 1369, which overhaul is already underway.