Pendennis Castle is a GWR 4073 Class steam locomotive, preserved at the Didcot Railway Centre.
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The seventh of the first lot of 10 Castles built in 1923/4, No.4079 "Pendennis Castle" was completed at Swindon Works in February 1924. She was allocated to Old Oak Common locomotive depot.
The locomotive became famous in 1925 when the GWR lent the locomotive to the LNER as part of trials against the LNER's then new A1 Pacific Class, a famous example being LNER 4472 Flying Scotsman. Running from King's Cross to Grantham, and King's Cross to Doncaster, she made the ascent from King's Cross to Finsbury Park regularly in less than six minutes, a feat that the Pacifics were unable to match. The locomotive was also shown to be more economical in both coal and water on the test runs. Before return to the GWR, the locomotive attended the second Wembley Exhibition between May and October 1925, displayed next to Flying Scotsman,[1] with a notice proclaiming it to be the most powerful passenger express locomotive in Britain.
Returned to Old Oak Common, after the GWR was nationalised as part of British Railways post-World War II, she continued to run the routes to South Wales and the West Country. In August 1950 she was allocated to Gloucester shed, and in March 1959 to Bristol, Bath Road. Her last shed allocation was Bristol, Saint Philip's Marsh. She was withdrawn May 1964.[2]
Purchased from BR in 1964 by Mike Higson, she was moved to Southall Railway Centre and appeared at one of the Great Western Society's first open days in 1965. Purchased by a partnership of the Honourable John Gretton and Bill McAlpine, the locomotive was moved in 1967 to the former GWR depot at Didcot, taking up residence in the disused lifting shop. As the Great Western Society assembled and moved its collection there, the Castle made rare excursions at Didcot, and made her next public appearance in 1971.
In 1972 she moved to Market Overton, Rutland. After that project failed, she moved to Steamtown, Carnforth where McAlpine held part-owenership, after being welded to the track at Rutland by disillusioned project members. Being built to the larger GWR loading gauge, she was unable to run on the former London Midland and Scottish Railway tracks, and with tension growing between the owners, it was agreed to sell her.
Sold to Hamersley Iron, one of the largest iron ore producers in Australia, the intention was to run her on their 240 miles (390 km) ore-carrying railway in the Pilbara-region of Western Australian. The company backed Pilbara Historic railway Society wanted a steam locomotive, and chairman Sir Russell Madigan promised them one, possibly Flying Scotsman.[3] After what was assumed to be a final UK rail tour, the locomotive left the UK for Australia on 29 May 1977.
Modified in 1980, she was used for various excursion trains on the company's ore-carrying railways. After more modifications, on 17 September 1989, she had a historic reunion with Flying Scotsman. During the 1990s, after various difficulties and with the expiration of the boiler certificate, she made her final run on 14 October 1994. Hamersley Iron being unprepared to pay a repair bill of 240,000 Australian Dollars, and repairs becoming uneconomical after HI installed fully electronic signalling - which would have required the locomotive to run behind a GE Transportation Systems Dash 9[3] - resulted in the locomotive being stored for several years.
In 1999, Hamersley Iron's parent Rio Tinto Group decided to find a secure home for the locomotive. After agreement with the Great Western Society to restore her to running order, the locomotive was shipped back to the UK and taken to her former home at the Didcot Railway Centre.
Restoration was started in 2005, with the original intention that a return to main line service would take place in 2008. As of the end of 2011, restoration is still ongoing.
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