This web site is all about the Great Western Society's mainline certified Locomotives when they are away from Didcot Railway Centre, hauling trips on the main line or visiting preserved railways.
Latest News
6023 King Edward II Launch
31-Mar-2011
The long-awaited public launch of 6023 King Edward II took place on Saturday 2 April 2011 at Didcot Railway Centre. The launch was performed at 1pm by Steve Davies MBE, Director of the National Railway Museum, York. 6023 will also be running during the Easter and May Day bank holiday weekends.
Richard Croucher, Chairman of the Great Western Society said, “This is the culmination of more than 20 years work at Didcot, which has been our most ambitious restoration project yet. It is a tremendous achievement by a group of volunteers and our supporters who have raised over £700,000 and put in more than 40,000 hours work. It was probably the biggest ‘no hoper’ at Barry and 6023 has subsequently inspired other projects such as the Saint and the County. We hope that all railway enthusiasts will appreciate seeing a single-chimney King in action again, for the first time in more than 50 years.”
6023 will remain on display at Didcot Railway Centre until early June, when the locomotive will depart for the Mid-Norfolk railway to undertake mileage accumulation in preparation for entry to running on the main line later in the year. The locomotive will return to Didcot for the main summer season from mid July onwards.
The Mid-Norfolk Railway will be issuing its own timetable for when 6023 will be running in June and July.
In the Autumn the locomotive has been invited to attend Galas at the Severn Valley and Great Central Railways, after which the next step is the mainline!