Major components of a powerful narrow gauge steam locomotive have been delivered to the Welsh Highland Railways workshops at Dinas, near Caernarfon.
 
Two power units, the boiler cradle, bunker, and water tank of Garratt locomotive number 130 arrived by road from the Exmoor Steam Railway, having been acquired by Gloucester-based Steam Powered Services Limited (SPS) at the end of 2014.
 
The boiler is being assessed at the South Devon Railway boiler works.
 
SPS intends to restore the locomotive to service with an anticipated first steaming date in the spring of 2018.
 
The locomotive is expected to run on the 25 mile Welsh Highland Railway between Caernarfon and Porthmadog.
 
SPS Managing Director Peter Best will manage the project with the work being done by contractors.
 
The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway (F&WHR) has already secured the contract to build a new bunker, water tank, and cab, along with examining the power bogies to draw up a list of the work needed to return them to service.
 
F&WHR Works Manager Tony Williams said, "We're very much looking forward to working with Peter and seeing another Garratt in action in Snowdonia."
 
Peter Best said number 130 was last operational on the Port Shepstone-Harding branch in Natal and was withdrawn in 1985.
 
It was imported for the proposed Whitby to Robin Hood's Bay Railway in the 1990s before being moved to the Exmoor Steam Railway.
 
The locomotive was one of a batch of 12 built by the Manchester firm of Beyer Peacock in 1951 and exported to South Africa for use on the extensive two foot gauge railways of the Cape and Natal.
 
The design dates from 1937 and various batches were made by four different manufacturers, with the last of the class being built in South Africa in 1968.
 
The F&WHR currently has five NG/G16 Garratts, numbers 87, 138, and 143 are in service, with numbers 109 and 140 awaiting restoration.
 
The railway also operates prototype Garratt K1.
 
Eryl Crump.