HUDSWELL, Clarke 0-6-0ST Sir Robert McAlpine & Sons No. 31 made its first preservation-era visit to another heritage railway in late October when it joined ‘Swindonised’ Hudswell, Clarke 0-6-0ST No. 813 at Didcot Railway Centre.
No. 31 can usually be found on the late Sir William McAlpine’s private railway at Fawley Hill (now in the care of his widow, Lady Judy McAlpine), but moved to Didcot during mid-October, where it ran alongside visiting No. 813 on October 30, and again on November 1-2.

No. 31 was posed with ‘Castle’ 4-6-0 No. 4079 Pendennis Castle while at Didcot, which was part-owned by Sir William McAlpine in the 1960s and 1970s until sold to the Hammersley Iron Company in Australia.
The two locomotives have never previously met despite sharing the same owner.
Read more News and Features in the November 2019 issue of The Railway Magazine –on sale now!
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