Pendennis Castle receives fresh coat of paint before visit of arch rival

by

REPATRIATED GWR 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle has been given a new coat of Brunswick green at its Didcot Railway Centre home in readiness for the high-profile visit of A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman on August 26-28.

The seventh of the first lot of 10 Castles built in 1923-4, No. 4079 was completed at Swindon Works on
March 4, 1924, and was allocated to Old Oak Common shed.

GWR 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle on the evening of Saturday, August 12 after its restoration team had spent the week painting a coat of green on the boiler and making it presentable for the visit of Flying Scotsman on August 26-28. FRANK DUMBLETON

The Castle acquired fame the following year when the GWR loaned it to the LNER for trials to see how it completed against Gresley’s new A1 Pacifics, which included No. 4472 Flying Scotsman.

Article continues below…
Advert

Enjoy more Heritage Railway reading in the four-weekly magazine.
Click here to subscribe & save.

Running from King’s Cross to Grantham, and King’s Cross to Doncaster, it climbed from King’s Cross to Finsbury Park regularly in less than six minutes, a feat that the Pacifics could not match. Pendennis Castle was also proved to be more economical in both coal and water on the test runs.

Before returning to GWR service, No. 4079 attended the second British Empire Exhibition at Wembley between May and October 1925, and was displayed next to Flying Scotsman – with a notice proclaiming it to be the most powerful passenger express locomotive in Britain.

Read more in Issue 232 of HR – on sale now!

Article continues below…
Advert

Advert
Subscribe to Heritage Railway Magazine Enjoy more Heritage Railway reading in the four-weekly magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Article Tags:

About the Author