'Legends Reunited', Flying Scotsman & Pendennis Castle, Didcot Railway Centre

            I spent the day at Didcot Railway Centre yesterday at the 'Legends Reunited' day. This series of events brought together one of the world's most famous locomotives, 60103 'The Flying Scotsman' (left) and the resident engine, 4079 'Pendennis Castle' (2nd left). Paraded outside of the loco sheds were 5051 'Drysllwyn Castle' and 6023 'King Henry II'.

This was an interesting day with Pendennis Castle performing various manoeuvres, at the coaling station and on the turntable, while the Royal Scotsman spent the day pulling carriages on the demonstration line.

‘Pendennis Castle's’ claim to fame dates from 1925 when the GWR lent the locomotive to the London & North Eastern Railway for trials against Sir Nigel Gresley's mighty new Pacifics exemplified by No.4472 (60103) ‘Flying Scotsman’. Working 16-coach trains on the East Coast main line from Kings Cross, the stalwart Castle covered itself in soot and glory, thoroughly out-performing its larger competitors. Her exploits were the talk of every schoolboy in Britain and the GWR rather cheekily sent ‘Pendennis Castle’ to stand alongside ‘Flying Scotsman’ at the 1925 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley with a notice proclaiming her to be the most powerful passenger express locomotive in Britain.

Although I enjoyed the day wandering around the site it was very difficult trying to keep the huge crowds out of the images. Apparently 1500 attended that day! Oh how I longed for the Timeline Events where only 20-30 photographers attend. Luckily I managed to get hold of a ticket for this Saturday's charter.

This image is a conglomeration(?) of 11 separate images, taken handheld, and then run through Neat Image Pro to remove all of the people. I was unsure at how well it would work but, as you can see, it did a great job of removing 16-20 people hanging around in front of and between the engines. I then finished in PS as usual.

Taken on: May 28, 2025

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Flying Scotsman

railway

steam engine

locomotive

King Henry II

Drysllwyn Castle

loco shed

heritage railway

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steam locomotive

didcot

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steam

Pendennis Castle

great western railway

gwr

scdronemedia

didcot railway centre

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Camera: Nikon D850, f/10.0, 1/125 sec, 29mm, ISO 64 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D850
Aperture:	f/10.0
Exposure Time:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Focal Length:	29mm
ISO:	64
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 14.3.1 (Windows)
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