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G'DAY PENDENNIS WELCOME HOME!
One of the best known Great Western Railway steam locomotives, No. 4079
'Pendennis Castle', has arrived back in England, home in the world of the
GWR after almost 23 years in Australia.
The locomotive was donated to the Great Western Society by Hamersley Iron,
a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, one of the world's leading mining companies at a
ceremony at Fremantle, Western Australia, in April prior to its shipment on
mv 'Toba', a round-the-world roll-on/roll-off ferry. Its journey has taken
it across the Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal and across the
Atlantic Ocean, calling at many ports en route. Its return was made
possible by a superb response by railway enthusiasts to an appeal and an
award of £37,300 by the Heritage lottery Fund towards its repatriation.
The 'Toba' arrived in Bristol's Royal Portbury Dock, just a mile across the
River Avon from Avonmouth whence it was shipped in June 1977, on the midday
tide on Saturday 8 July and 'Pendennis Castle' was unloaded at 3.30pm
looking somewhat tired but none the worse for 10 weeks at sea.
The big chance for us all to say 'G'day Pendennis, welcome home!' has been
set for Sunday 30 July at Didcot Railway Centre. The whole day will be
devoted to a celebration of No.4079s return to England and there will be
plenty of opportunities to photograph the old lady in an authentic setting
once more. Three Great Western Railway locomotives will be in steam on the
day Nos.3738, 1338 and, most importantly, 5051 'Earl Bathurst'. Having
the second 'Castle' in steam creates the opportunity not only to pose the
two 'Castles' side by side, but also to position the two locomotives in
double-headed formation on occasions during the day.
At 3pm No.4079 will be positioned in front of the refreshment room and the
Summer Draw in aid of its restoration will be made. First prize is an oil
painting of 'Pendennis Castle' by Barrie A.F. Clark valued at over £4,000,
generously donated by Sir William McAlpine; there are also second and third
prizes of £500 and £250, plus 10 consolation prizes of £40.79 each.
All proceeds from the draw will be put towards the 4079 Restoration Appeal
which is growing rapidly thanks to the incredible generosity of everyone
who has supported the fund so far. It is hoped that the fund will be
sufficient to commence a relatively 'fast-track' restoration to main line
order for it to commemorate its own last journey in England in 1964 and the
centenary of .the record breaking journey by 'City of Truro' in 1904 when
it was the first steam locomotive to run at over 100 miles per hour.
Didcot Steam 2000 It is planned that the following locomotives, in addition to 4079 "Pendennis Castle" will be visiting:
Ÿ
4472 "Flying Scotsman"
As many engines as possible will be in steam on the opening day (Saturday 27th May), and at least
four on the other days. Tuesday 30th May has been designated "Pannier Tank Day" and Thursday 1st June will be
"Pacific Day" with both 4472 "Flying Scotsman" and 60532 "Blue Peter" in action.
On Thursday 1st June trains will be running into the evening with musical entertainment until 10 pm. There will be a
railway quiz on Friday 2nd June and the railway quiz champion Chris Hughes (from the BBC show "Mastermind") will be
in attendance.
¹ exact dates to be confirmed
March 1924 - May 1977 | May 1977 - February 2000 |
Coming home |
How you can help
Release 1.1a/2000-02-05
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