A Spring evening at Didcot with Flying Scotsman and Pendennis Castle 101 years after they first met

Home
Adventures
A Spring evening at Didcot with Flying Scotsman and Pendennis Castle 101 years after they first met

Book your place

Sold out

About this event

We are delighted to offer a Spring evening event at Didcot Railway Centre featuring visiting Gresley-designed Pacific No.60103 Flying Scotsman which is paying a short working visit to the Oxfordshire museum for just five steaming days in late-May 2025, in steam alongside No.4079 Pendennis Castle.

Our visiting star guest for this event needs no introduction, but we will introduce it anyway! Flying Scotsman is, quite simply, one of the most famous locomotives in the world. Named after the prestigious 10.00 London to Edinburgh service of the same title which dated back to 1862, No.60103 (also numbered 1472, 4472 and 103 at various points in its career) was built in 1923, entering service on 24th February of that year. It was selected to appear at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 which further secured its fame. This was also the first meeting of 60103 (then 1472) and 4079 Pendennis Castle which was also attending representing the Great Western Railway. Originally an A1 Class, 60103 was rebuilt as an A3 after the Second World War and, in common with other members of the class, underwent further modifications including receiving a double chimney and smoke deflectors. It is in this guise that the locomotive currently operates. In January 1963, as No.60103, the locomotive was purchased for preservation by Alan Pegler. All went well until the finances of a trip to the USA in 1969 saw Scotsman stranded in San Francisco.

In 1973, railway enthusiast and businessman Sir William McAlpine purchased the loco, paid off all debts, and returned it to the United Kingdom. Sir William had Scotsman overhauled at Derby Works and continued to own and operate it for the next 23 years. The loco visited Australia for a working tour in the late 1980s during which it set the record for the longest non-stop run by a steam locomotive of 422 miles, and also teamed up again with No.4079 Pendennis Castle which was at that time also based in Australia. After return to the United Kingdom, Scotsman continued to operate on the national network and on heritage railways, with musician Pete Waterman sharing joint ownership with Sir William from 1992. In 1996, businessman Tony Marchington purchased the locomotive for £1.25 million but, in 2004, doubts over Scotsman’s future resurfaced which led to an appeal to save the engine for posterity under the ownership of the National Collection. Grant funding and public subscription saw £2.4 million raised to save the loco for the Nation and a return to working order commenced in 2006. Ten years later, in 2016, Flying Scotsman once again steamed and became the oldest working locomotive running on the national rail network.

Pendennis Castle is a member of the 4073 Class of locomotives and is one of the first ten Great Western ‘Castles’ to be built at Swindon Works from where it emerged in early March 1924. The following year 4079 was loaned to the London and North Eastern Railway for comparison trials with the LNER’s A1 Class Pacifics; the Castle performed favourably in terms of both power and efficiency, hauling 16-coach loads on the East Coast Main Line working out of London’s Kings Cross station. After this, it was displayed at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in London along with ‘A1’ Class Flying Scotsman - a notice displayed next to 4079 proclaimed it to be the most powerful passenger express locomotive in the country. The two appeared together again in 1989 in the unlikely setting of Perth in Australia as part of that country’s bi-centennial celebrations.

The locomotive is named after an artillery fort built by Henry VIII (though not personally!) between 1540 and 1542. It is located near Falmouth In Cornwall and was originally built as a defence against the threat of invasion from the French army and from the Holy Roman Empire. Over the years through various conflicts the castle’s armaments were updated so that it was still in use throughout the Second World War, not being formerly decommissioned until 1956. It passed to the Ministry of Works and is today managed as a tourist attraction by English Heritage.

Back on GWR territory, 4079 was based at Old Oak Common to work services from London Paddington to South Wales and the West Country. After the Second World War, depots included Hereford, Gloucester, Stafford Road, Taunton, Swindon, Bristol Bath Road and finally Bristol St Philip’s Marsh from November 1963 and from where 4079 was withdrawn in May 1964. Pendennis Castle was purchased for private preservation from British Railways Western Region and was based at several locations including Southall and Carnforth before being sold to the Hammersley Iron Company of Western Australia. After working part of the Great Western Envoy rail tour from Birmingham to Didcot, the locomotive emigrated in 1977 for use by the Pibara Railways Historical Society on excursion trains, being transferred from Avonmouth Docks to Sydney, Australia. The Castle, renamed River Fe (River of Iron), worked ‘Down Under’ until October 1994 when it was found to need extensive and expensive boiler repairs and was put into storage. The parent company of Hammersley Iron, Rio Tinto, generously arranged to donate 4079 to the Great Western Society in 1999 and the locomotive arrived back in the United Kingdom via Perth and Avonmouth in 2000. The Society began what would be a lengthy overhaul to working condition in 2005, completed in 2022.

Our event will take place on Saturday 31st May. We will start shortly after the site closes to the public at 17.00 hours. This will be a slightly different event to our usual night shoots in that, at this time of the year, it will be light very late into the evening. Therefore, we do not intend to do much, if any, photography inside the shed but will concentrate on outdoor scenes; should this be a fine evening, it will provide us with a great many excellent opportunities to photograph 4079 and 60103 together, as well as individually.

We would like to thank the locomotive’s owners, the National Railway Museum, and host Didcot Railway Centre for their help in facilitating this event. Flying Scotsman is not by any means a cheap locomotive to hire, and we cannot take unlimited numbers of people, so we apologise that the cost of this event is a little higher than for our other Didcot events. However, there should be some outstanding photographic opportunities and we hope you will join us in late May for this very special event.

This event will run from 17.00 until approximately 22.00.

Event requirements

Equipment

Spare batteries
Camera
Lense cloths
Filters
Lenses
Tripod

Knowledge

All levels welcome

Fitness

Other essentials

Sturdy outdoor shoes
Torch
Warm clothing
For those with mobility issues please email us to check the mobility limitations at this location prior to booking

Event location

People who purchased this also purchased...

Join us for a full day at the GCR featuring the pioneering Class 37 D6700 and full mixed goods rake

Monday 7th April 2025