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No. 5542 is a GWR 4575 Class or 'Small Prairie' 2-6-2T steam locomotive built for the Great Western Railway (GWR). They were designed as small mixed traffic branch tank engine locomotives, mainly used on branch lines all over the Great Western Railway system.

History[]

No. 5542 was built at Swindon Works in 1928 and was initially allocated to Gloucester before heading southwards. It was withdrawn from service in 1961 and was sold to the Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry. After sitting in the scrapyard for fourteen years, the locomotive was purchased for preservation in 1976 and was moved to the West Somerset Railway for restoration.

No. 5542 was eventually placed in the ownership of the 5542 Ltd, who saw the locomotive restored and returned to steam again after forty years on the West Somerset Railway in the Autumn of 2002. The locomotive remained based at the West Somerset Railway, but frequently traveled on loan to other heritage railways including the South Devon Railway in Buckfastleigh.

In 2019, an agreement was reached between the South Devon Railway and 5542 Ltd. which means that No. 5542 will now be operated and maintained by the South Devon Railway for the next 30 years. The locomotive went on loan to the East Somerset Railway in September 2020 and returned to Buckfastleigh in early 2021.

No. 5542's boiler certificate expired on April 17, 2022 and is now out of service currently awaiting an overhaul.

Trivia[]

  • No. 5542 is one of eleven surviving members of the GWR 4575 Class in preservation.

Gallery[]

Preserved steam locomotives in Devon
Museums Devon Railway Centre No. 14 Rebecca
Tiverton Museum GWR No. 1442 Tivvy Bumper
St. Marychurch Bygones Museum Falmouth Docks No. 5 Patricia
Leaky Finders Ltd. BR No. 35028 Clan LineGWR No. 9629GWR No. 1638 • S&L No. 47 CarnarvonSR No. 541
Heritage Railways South Devon Railway GWR No. 1420 BulliverGWR No. 5526GWR No. 5542LT No. 92GWR No. 6412GWR No. 6430GWR No. 3205BR No. 4160GWR No. 1369 • EGW No. 1 AshleyLee Moor Tramway No. 2 • British Gypsum Lady Angela • NCB Glendower • GWR Tiny
Exmoor Steam Railway ExmoorDenzilLorna DooneSAR No. 115SAR No. 77
Dartmoor Railway NCB Newmarket S. 103 Firefly
Dartmouth Steam Railway GWR No. 5239 Goliath • GWR No. 4277 Hercules • GWR No. 4555 WarriorGWR No. 3803 • USATC No. 2253 OmahaGWR No. 2873 • BR No. 75014 Braveheart • GWR No. 7827 Lydham Manor
Plym Valley Railway Byfield Quarries No. 2 Byfield • HOS Fablok TKh49 No. 5374 VanguardSSEB No. 4 (No. 705)W. G. Bagnall No. 3121 • British Sugar Corp. Albert
Lynton & Barnstaple Railway SR No. 762 Lyn (replica) • Vallée Heureuse & Le Haut-Banc Quarries Axe • Tongaat Sugar Sir George Newnes
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