Pendennis meets Pendennis…

Old met not-so-old at Didcot Railway Centre on April 2, when Great Western Railway Class 57 diesel 57604 Pendennis Castle met its steam namesake 4079 Pendennis to honour its return to service following a 20-year rebuild.

Despite sporting the same name, the two locomotives have led completely different lives.

The Great Western 4-6-0, a celebrity almost since it was completed at Swindon in March 1924, was withdrawn from service in May 1964 after a celebrated farewell railtour where it reached 90mph. It spent from 1977 to 2000 in Australia.

Its modern diesel successor did not enter service until August 1965, when as Class 47 D1859 it was allocated to Crewe, later becoming 47209. It remained in the freight sector until being re-engined and renumbered in 2004 for primarily PaddingtonPenzance Sleeper duties.

STEPHEN GINN. Great Western Railway 57604 Pendennis Castle crosses the causeway at Cockwood Harbour with a rare daylight appearance of the Night Riviera Sleeper stock on February 4. It is returning to Reading Traincare Depot as the 1044 from Penzance, after a three-day stay at Longrock Depot for GWR Sleeper staff competence training. The locomotive came buffer to buffer with its older namesake at Didcot Railway Centre on April 2.