Didcot Railway Centre

  • Celebrity launch for Lady of Legend

    Celebrity launch for Lady of Legend

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    TV presenter and former member of the British Railways Board Prue Leith is to launch the Great Western Society’s new Churchward Saint 4-6-0 No. 2999 Lady of Legend at Didcot Railway Centre at 11am on Friday, April 5. The event will mark the start of three steaming days at the centre. Prue was a judge…

  • Didcot’s diesel shunter clocks up 40 years’ service

    Didcot’s diesel shunter clocks up 40 years’ service

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    A SMALL celebration was held on December 29 to mark the 40th anniversary of Hunslet 5238 of 1957 – a 264bhp 0-6-0DM, now known as No. DL 26 – arriving at the Didcot Railway Centre.  A cake was cut by former Great Western Society locomotive manager Ron Head, who had arranged the purchase of the locomotive.  He…

  • New chairman for the Great Western Society

    New chairman for the Great Western Society

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    RICHARD Preston has been welcomed as the new chairman of the Great Western Society. At its board meeting on January 27, he replaced Richard Croucher, who retired as chairman and a director after 18 years. Richard Preston has been active in railway preservation since 1968 – both at Didcot Railway Centre, where he was locomotive…

  • Caley Blue 419 adds Broadway to English tour

    Caley Blue 419 adds Broadway to English tour

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    Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T No. 419 has added the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s Cotswold Festival of Steam to its biggest-ever tour of England. No. 419 will star in the May 25-27 festival alongside another blue guest, GWR 4-6-0 No. 6023 Edward II from Didcot Railway Centre. A third guest will be B1 4-6-0 No. 1260 from the…

  • County of Montgomery group aiming for £40,000 with driving wheels appeal

    County of Montgomery group aiming for £40,000 with driving wheels appeal

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    THE Churchward County Trust (CCT) is hoping to build on the success of its first year by launching a new ‘Forty 4-4-0s Club’ to raise the £40,000 required to cast the four coupled wheels for new-build GWR 4-4-0 No. 3840 County of Montgomery.  All the platework required to assemble the main frames is cut and ready…

  • Blue ‘King’ confirmed for Cotswold Festival of Steam

    Blue ‘King’ confirmed for Cotswold Festival of Steam

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    THE Great Western Society’s Collett 4-6-0 King Edward II will return to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway later this spring to take part in the line’s Cotswold Festival of Steam on May 25-27.  It will be the second visit by Didcot-based No. 6023 to the ‘Gloucs-Warks’ in as many years, having starred at the same event last…

  • Golden ‘Teddy Bear’ to star at Didcot event

    Golden ‘Teddy Bear’ to star at Didcot event

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    CLASS 14 No. D9551 arrived at Didcot by road from the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) on March 8.  The golden ochre-liveried loco is seen at DB Cargo’s fuelling point prior to being taken across the tracks to enter Didcot Railway Centre. Behind is DBC Class 66 No. 66057. The 0-6-0DH will be used on three weekends…

  • ‘Foremarke’ joins ‘Saint’ at Didcot mini-gala

    ‘Foremarke’ joins ‘Saint’ at Didcot mini-gala

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    HAWKSWORTH ‘Modified Hall’ No. 7903 Foremarke Hall will make a rare visit away from its Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway home on June 7-9 in order to appear alongside ‘Saint’ No. 2999 Lady of Legend at Didcot Railway Centre’s Hall & Saint Gala.  The two locomotives, which represent both ends of GWR 4-6-0 development, will be in steam together…

  • April launch date for Didcot’s ‘Saint’ No. 2999

    April launch date for Didcot’s ‘Saint’ No. 2999

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    RE-CREATED GWR ‘Saint’ No. 2999 Lady of Legend will be officially launched at Didcot Railway Centre during a celebratory three-day event on April 5-7. The Churchward 4-6-0 has taken the Great Western Society (GWS) more than 14 years to complete. No. 2999 made its public debut in unlined black last November, but the April weekend will provide…

  • Overhaul beckons for GWS pioneer No. 1466

    Overhaul beckons for GWS pioneer No. 1466

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    DIDCOT Railway Centre’s Black Saint Weekend provided a final opportunity to see the Great Western Society’s (GWS) pioneer locomotive – ‘14XX’ 0-4-2T No. 1466 – on site before its departure for a £300,000 overhaul. The former Newton Abbot ‘auto tank’ provided the foundation stone for all future GWS activities when, in April 1964, it became the…

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