The Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company has issued an update on its overhaul of steam locomotive 3803.

The company bought the ex-GWR 2884 2-8-0 in 2022 from the South Devon Railway and has been working on the 1939-built loco at its Churston Workshop.

Its recent work has included blasting the locomotive’s frames with a water jet, which cleans off dirt and grease and drives the thick rust off the surfaces.

This left the metal available to be inspected, and once this was done, the frames were painted with a protective primer.

The team working on the locomotive used water gauges at the four corners to set the frames level. They weighed the frames and supported them at points along their length.

The result is that the frames are straight, and therefore ready to be measured further and aligned accurately.

The team has also been working on the locomotive’s boiler, removing much of the corroded steelwork, including three-quarters of the backhead and both the lower sides.

Removing the backhead exposed significant grooving and cracking, which underscores the need for renovation.

The Company has promised further updates.

3803 is a Collett’s 2884 class locomotive. The class was a development of Churchward’s 28XX Class, the first locomotive class which hauled 2000 tons.

Built in 1939 at GWR’s Swindon Works, 3803 worked until 1963 when it was sent to Woodham’s Scrapyard in Barry.

Twenty years later, it was saved and delivered to Buckfastleigh on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon. Once there, the locomotive underwent an extensive overhaul, and returned to steam in 2005.

3803 was not used on the South Devon Railway, but was loaned to the Battlefield Line in Shackerstone in Leicestershire for a number of years.

Once returned to working condition, 3803 will feature on the Dartmouth Steam Railway. Previously known as the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, the heritage line runs on the former Great Western Railway branch line between Kingswear and Paignton in Devon.