£50k needed to return ‘Pendennis’ to steam
A funding shortfall of £50,000 needs to be bridged before GWR ‘Castle’ No. 4079 Pendennis Castle returns to the main line. Great Western Society spokesman Frank Dumbleton says: “We have £17,000 already in the fund, but we need another £50,000 for fitting the Train Protection & Warning System and On-Train Monitoring Recorder, and the main line test runs.” It will still be “a year or more” before the Collett 4-6-0 will steam again. The overhaul of the ‘Castle’ continues at the GWS base at Didcot, where the next big job will be the locomotive’s steam pipes. Mr Dumbleton says: “The boiler is a few rivets away from hydraulic and steam tests, but these have been delayed to allow the rest of the engine to catch up, and to let us put the boiler back in the frames to get everything else finished. “The next moves will be new handrails and the new cylinder drain cocks for fitting and fettling. Then it’s pipework and other original bits as we raise funds for the main line gear. After that, the boiler will be out, finished and tested, and then it will be a mad dash to put everything back together and paint it!” Pendennis Castle will be outshopped in 1920s GWR livery; the tender has already been fully painted and lined out, and is on display behind classmate No. 5051 Earl Bathurst. “‘Pendennis’ has carried this livery since 1965 and we don’t feel we should change it. It will put GWR livery back on the main line where it belongs, too!” However, No. 4079 will not have the distinctive red-painted frames that it sported prior to its departure to Australia 40 years ago this year. It returned in 2000, at which point the hope was that it would steam again in 2004 (SR245).