The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway has announced that GWR ‘Castle’ No. 4079 ‘Pendennis Castle’ will be visiting them for their Cotswold Festival of Steam.

4079 visits thanks its owners, the Great Western Society and The Didcot Railway Centre.

Taking place from the 12th May until the 14th May, the gala will see an intensive timetable operate, with 4079 Pendennis Castle joining already confirmed BR Standard 4 No. 75014 Braveheart at the gala among other GWSR resident locomotives.

The theme for this year’s gala is ‘Cheltenham & Gloucester Remembered’, which is inspired by the huge variety of trains found in the surrounding area back in steam days.

Ian Crowder, the railway’s spokesman, commented: “The Castles were synonymous with Great Western express train services in the area.

“They were introduced 100 years ago this year, no. 4079 being built in 1924.  In 1925, Pendennis Castle was sent to the London & North Eastern Railway for trials against their new A1 pacific Flying Scotsman and, to the embarrassment of the LNER’s directors, Pendennis Castle not only significantly outperformed Flying Scotsman but did so using less fuel and water.  That year, Pendennis Castle – with a notice proclaiming it to be the ‘most powerful express passenger locomotive in Britain’ – appeared at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, alongside Flying Scotsman.”

“We are thrilled to have Pendennis Castle visit our railway for the first time,” added Ian Crowder.  “It surely should be as famous as Flying Scotsman – after all, it has, like that engine, visited Australia and has circumnavigated the world.

“The Cotswold Festival of Steam is a unique opportunity to experience this outstanding engine first-hand on a railway where it once thundered through with express trains taking Midlands holidaymakers to the West Country resorts.”

Tickets and timetables have not yet been announced, so watch this space!

This announcement is the latest in a flurry of news regarding where 4079 Pendennis Castle is visiting in 2023, with visits to Tyseley Locomotive Works and the Severn Valley Railway already confirmed.