6023 King Edward II - Launch Day at Didcot Railway Centre, 2nd April 2011

Today, 2nd April 2011, was an exciting day for the steam loco preservation movement in Britain. It was the launch day, at the Great Western Society's railway centre at Didcot, of ex-GWR "King" Class 6023 King Edward II after a 22 year restoration period from scrap condition.

That particular story is told far better elsewhere than I can - see 6023-dot-co-dot-uk and didcotrailwaycentre-dot-org-dot-uk for the incredible tale. A vandalised, rusted, stripped hulk of a loco, withdrawn 49 years ago and sold for scrap, then neglected for a further 25 years, has been restored by a team of 100 volunteers at the GWS into a shining, unique example of the GWR's crack express passenger locomotive. The loco has been finished in British Railways' express passenger blue livery, a livery that was used for only a couple of years in the 1950's, before BR finally settled on green as their standard colour. Very few people will ever have seen a King running in this livery.

For the morning, 6023 posed in the sunshine outside the main shed at Didcot alongside Castle Class 5051 Earl Bathurst. At noon, they were joined by 4965 Rood Ashton Hall and 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, which had hauled Vintage Trains Ltd's "The Coronation Express" from Tyseley as part of the celebrations.

6023 moved to the turntable for the launch speeches, and then onto the demonstration line where it stayed for the afternoon, pulling and pushing packed out trains backwards and forwards with great gusto.

Also in steam for the day were mogul 5322 in ROD wartime colours and pannier tank 3738 with a milk wagon and autocoach.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• gwr
• 6023
• King Edward 11
• King Edward II
• King Edward 2
• GWS
• Great Western
• Barry Scrapyard
• steam train
• Didcot
• blue king

[BristolSpotterHD]

anyone know if its planned to go on the mainline?

maybe double headed with 6024? king edward I =]

[MoiUnMouton]

@BristolSpotterHD

It is planned that 6023 will go on the mainline, at the moment the plan is for Autumn 2012. One reason for the wait is that at the moment she has been restored to full original height (chimney, cab, safety valve), and this is too tall for mainline running. So for this year and part of next, she will run at Didcot and at heritage railways - GCR, SVR and the MNR for starters. Next year the plan is she will be converted to lower height fittings, and certified for mainline.

[gnads1]

Great video & beautiful restoration job. There's no way people would have been allowed to get as close here in Australia when the loco first moved off in the video. Safety regualtors would have had a field day with all those people standing on top of skeleton wagons to get a better view & take photos. And no of them wearing high visibily vests or clothing.

[MoiUnMouton]

@gnads1

Thanks gnads1, nice to know you're seeing it from so far away. Didcot is a really great place for letting you get close to their loco's. We do a lot of complaining too in the UK about the "elf-n-safety police", especially out on the mainline system :)

[MoiUnMouton]

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. It was a very enjoyable day as well as being a historic one.

[letmadnessbegin]

Some great shots there mate, thumbs up, it was fantastic to see the King finally up and running. I spotted myself here, 3:11 I've got my black Umbro bag and gray jacket on. I noticed your video is in 360p and not the usual 720p, I think that might be a problem on YouTube's end as I had that happen on my first video of 4965 & 5043, that's being re-uploaded at the mo.

[MoiUnMouton]

@letmadnessbegin

Ooops, thanks for that, it is in 720p, I'll retry!

Nice to know that you were there too :-)

[faulcon1]

@gnads1 I live down under as well and your totally right about OH&S overkill here. We can't even have driver experiences here because of OH&S issues. Went to DIdcot in 2000 and left 50 pounds in collection chimney next to the bogie on drivers side of 6023. Had ride in auto coach pushed by 1466 and rode behind 5051. Great although it poured with rain.

[acw71000]

Great record of the day, a fine achievement by all concerned with the restoration

[benskiproductions]

Great video :)

[noelist]

well you certainly had a good day, how nice to see a blue GW loco, fantastic video mate, cheers.

[KINGANDCASTLE]

Nice one