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Didcot RAILWAY Centre
GREAT WESTERN 175
Didcot Railway Centre held a series of special events to celebrate 175 years of the Great Western Railway, including visiting main line railtours, a rare visit away from the Paignton & Dartmouth Railway for GWR Manor 7827 Lytham Manor and operation of the replica Fire Fly on the Broad Gauge running line.
21st Century Steam
A1 Pacific Tornado, in then freshly applied BR Green, visited Didcot in the Spring of 2011. During a steam weekend it was joined by fellow 21st Century Steam Locomotives, Broad Gauge replica 'Fire Fly' and Steam Rail motor 93 (converted back to rail motor).
KING EDWARD II RETURNS
30th June 2013
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GWR 4-6-0 6023 King Edward II and Pannier Tank 3738 in action on a summers day on the Didcot Railway Centre.
Steam Gala 2014
The star of the 150th Anniversary of the London Underground celebrations in 2012, visited Didcot for a May Bank Holiday Weekend Steam Gala in 2014. The Metropolitan Railway originally had a very close relationship with the Great Western Railway, with the GWR supplying locomotives to the Met at first and the Paddington to Farringdon line being built to Brunel's Broad Gauge originally. The Met's own locomotives replaced the Great Western locos after a year, but now 150 years on this event celebrated the original close bonds between the two companies.
DIAMOND JUBILEE GALA
Sunday 1st August 2021
Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the Great Western Railway Society, the Diamond Jubilee Gala saw United States Army Transportation Corps. S160 2-8-0 6046 visiting from the Churnet Valley Railway and Lambton, Hetton & Joicey Collieries No. 29 from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, joining new build GWR Saint 4-6-0 2999 Lady of Legend and recently overhauled GWR 0-4-0ST Avonside Engine Company of Bristol of 1897 No. 1340 Trojan.
While a big American locomotive may seem out of place at a former GWR engine shed, during the war S160s were stabled at Didcot. At the start of the day it was the turn of the diesels on the running line with British Railways Diesel Hydraulic Class 14 0-6-0 D9516 seen running on the main line.