The Severn Valley Railway will welcome GWR Grange No. 6880 Betton Grange to its Spring Steam Gala in April.

The SVR says that it will be the first ever gala appearance for the Grange when it hauls services between the 18th and 21st April.

Finishing touches to its livery are being made at Tyseley Locomotive Works, where the construction was recently completed.

All 80 locomotives in the Grange class were scrapped by the end of 1965, with none making it into preservation.

Subject to an agreement between the Severn Valley Railway and Tyseley Locomotive Works regarding testing and commissioning of the locomotive, 6880 will join No. 72 ‘Fenchurch’ and Lambton No. 29 as well as the home fleet including 13268 in its new LMS black livery and 4930 Hagley Hall.

The SVR expects the locomotive to be a big crowd-puller at its four-day event, as managing director Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster explained: “We are extremely pleased to be hosting the Gala debut of such an important engine. It really is incredible to think that this will be the first time a Grange class will have been seen in service for 59 years, and we know it’s going to be a big draw. We’re very grateful to the 6880 Betton Grange Society for allowing the Severn Valley Railway to host their loco’s first Gala appearance.”

“Having the brand-new ‘Betton Grange’ and the 152-year-old ‘Fenchurch’ in our line-up means we’re covering a huge span of years with the rolling stock at our spring event,” added Gus. “And, this is going to be the first opportunity to see a Grange on a GWR line since the mid-1960s; with the SVR-based  4930 ‘Hagley Hall’ and 7812 ‘Erlestoke Manor’, we’ll have a complete line-up of medium-sized, named GWR classes.

“It looks like, once again, we’ve got a cracker of a Gala to deliver, and we’re very much hoping to build on the success we had last year.”