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From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group
Gelert sits ready to be uncoupled at Pen-y-Mount station

Gelert is an attractive 0-4-2T built in 1953 by Bagnall for the Rustenberg Platinum Mines in South Africa (Builder's number 3050).

It was the last of four Bagnalls ordered by the mines during the period 1948 - 1953. It was not named whilst working at Rustenberg, but was given the number 4. Its sister engines are all preserved.

This locomotive and its sister, No. 3 (works no. 3023), were first sought by what is now the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway in the early 1970s, but the Arab - Israeli War with its consequent world oil shortage gave them a new lease of life in the mines. In 1980 they again became available and the purchase was completed.

Both locomotives arrived in Porthmadog in April 1982, but serious work on restoring what was to become 'Gelert' did not begin until 1990. Restoration was completed in 1992, the locomotive receiving its name and entering service in August of that year.

Photo credit: User:Traindriverowen

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