An interesting locomotive today, "Heron" from the Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway (C&CR)

A Map of the Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway line

From Wikipedia

Heron (1861–1872)

Magpie (1861–1872)

The first two locomotives for the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway were 4-4-0T locomotives with straight side tanks, built by Sharp Stewart and Company in 1861.

After the line was converted to standard gauge in 1872, they were sold to the South Devon Railway and Cornwall Railway respectively, although the locomotives for both these railways were worked as a common pool. They were both rebuilt with saddle tanks.

In 1876, they became the property of the Great Western Railway and carried the numbers 2134 and 2135. Magpie was withdrawn in 1889 but Heron lasted until the gauge conversion. It worked the last broad gauge train from Tavistock to Plymouth Millbay railway station on 20 May 1892 before pulling the empty carriages to Swindon railway works for dismantling.

Heron in its Great Western Condition

Heron in its South Devon Condition

And finally, Heron in its original condition.

Overall, in its entire working life, it was subject to a rebuild and a few other additions to it. What I find intriguing is that it was a side tank at first! You don't see that on the Great Western in its early days a lot, and since I had its diagrams (Side tank condition) I decided to build it, three times. (Two were side tanks, the most recent was its GWR rebuild)

My first build of Heron, note that I was new and lack the experience I have today. So It might look quite bad.

My second build of Heron, but named it Lane, after a certain person, I've forgotten who he was!

And my latest build of Heron, but in its GWR rebuild. I figured that building the same locomotive 3 times was too repetitive and also really boring and just not as great as to work on as this, so I decided to build it in saddle-tank form, to give myself some challenge as everything here was referenced from pictures of it, this model also has internal valve gear! Although its only the crossheads and not including the actual Stephenson's valve gear, because I don't know how to rig that. :(

My journey in building Heron was definitely a fun one, especially since the newest took me a few days as my internet was down for a couple of days.

All I can say is that I'm really proud of it :)