Double Headed Rivals | Flying Scotsman & Pendennis Castle at Didcot Railway Centre - 26.05.25

History would be made at the Didcot Railway Centre, as 60103 Flying Scotsman and 4079 Pendennis Castle would be seen together in the UK for the first time in a century, taking part in the centre’s “Rivals Reunited” event.

The two locomotives first met in May 1925 at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, but they have also been famous for their meeting in Australia in 1989, where Scotsman had travelled to for a tour round the country. Pendennis had become a resident of Australia at this point, before returning to the UK in July 2000. To mark the 100th anniversary of the two engines first meeting, the railway would play host to the famous A3 to run alongside the castle, a member of their own fleet.

The event would see the pair on display in the shed alongside 5051 Drysllwyn Castle & 6023 King Edward II at the start of the day, before Scotsman would move to the main demonstration line to haul passenger trains for four hours. Originally, the plan from here was to have Pendennis Castle swap with Scotsman to take over from running service trains. However, a last minute change of plan would see another historic event, as the two locomotives would be seen double heading for the first time since 1988. This video includes footage from onboard one of Scotsman’s trains, along with extra shots at various locations of it passing along the main demonstration line, before then featuring some bonus shots of the double headers. Despite it being very busy, and the occasional rain shower disrupting filming at certain points, the day would still be a memorable one, a highlight of the year to see these two locomotives together again, 100 years on!

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