Didcot - Rivals Reunited various dates 14 May - 1 June

Flying Scotsman and Pendennis Castle reunited at Didcot,

No. 31 from Fawley Hill will also be in use (subject to completion to overhaul)

More info:
Display days (14, 17-18, 21-23 & 29-30 May and 1 June) https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/...pendennis-castle-flying-scotsman-display-days
Steam Days (24-26, 28 & 31 May) https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/...d-pendennis-castle-flying-scotsman-steam-days

 

We visited this event yesterday which was very busy. Didcot were certainly doing very well in both the gift shop and the Café/restaurant.
We had to queue up in the shop where the t-shirts and special limited edition Rivals re-united badges were flying off the shelves. The queue for refreshments was also quite long when we arrived just after midday. The pasties and sausage rolls with chips were very nice and just what we needed after our journey to the Railway Centre.
There was also a rather long queue for rides behind 60103 on the main demonstration line. We left it until later in the afternoon for a ride when the queue was a bit shorter. We managed to get rides in behind 60103 and 4079 on the main demo line and also behind Trojan on the branch line in between exploring the rest of the site. The last time we had visited was in 2017 so it was interesting to see what had been going on since our last visit. 60103 was rather sedate on the demo line but 4079 was putting on more of a show.
Overall a very enjoyable day despite the murky conditions for photography. Scotsman fever doesn't seem to be waning just yet going by the attendance to this event. Hopefully Didcot will do very well financially from this event.
Thank you to everyone involved. It was great to see so many young volunteers at work around the Centre which is good sign for the Centre's future.

Below are some of my shots from the day:

4079, 5051 and 6023 pose on shed while 60103 works on the demo line:

Rivals meet:

Scotsman on the demo line:

Scotsman eases off the demo line:

4079 waits to run on the demo line:

4079 starts her turn on the demo line:

Scotsman rests at the end of the day:

The rivals:

The Scotsman effect: