The Countdown - or rather the count UP.

  • Please bear with us on the new site integration and fixing any known bugs over the coming days. If you can not log in please try resetting your password and check your spam box. If you have tried these steps and are still struggling email [email protected] with your username/registered email address
  • Log in now to remove adverts - no adverts at all to registered members!
You must log in or register to see images


5080 Defiant (Ogmore Castle)
5080 was completed at Swindon in 1939 and originally named Ogmore Castle. In 1941 it was renamed Defiant after a Second World War aeroplane. It was first allocated to Old Oak Common shed for main line express work to Birmingham and the West Country. It hauled many of the main line expresses such as the Red Dragon; Pembroke Coast Express and South Wales Pullman before the arrival of Britannia class Pacifics on the Western Region. By 1959 it had moved to Carmarthen staying there until its final move to Llanelli in May 1961, working to the last on express trains.

Withdrawn from service in April 1963, 5080 spent almost eleven years (October 1963 – August 1974) in Barry scrapyard before being purchased by the Birmingham Railway Museum Trust (Now called Vintage Trains).

It was originally purchased as spares for 7029 Clun Castle but at the end of 1985, an intensive programme of restoration began to transform Defiant into a working locomotive once again: capable of hauling main line trains at express speeds over BR tracks.

5080 returned steam in July 1987 and to the main line on 11th June 1988, bearing the familiar Red Dragon headboard, hauling a train from Tyseley to Didcot. Since then, 5080 has visited numerous preserved railways including the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway, Great Central Railway, and even the Mid Hants Railway, doing so in 1995. Following the introduction of the popular Drive-A-Loco footplate experience course, 5080 was the mainstay mainline engine used until withdrawn in 1997 for overhaul.

Following its boiler certificate expiring 5080 was sent to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Quainton in January 2002 where it is on static display. After being on static display at Quainton for fifteen years on loan from the Birmingham Railway Museum was moved to Tyseley in May 2017 where it will have an overhaul which is anticipated to cost £1m. After the overhaul the locomotive will be utilised as part of the Vintage Trains fleet on the main line.
 
  • Like
Reactions: antipodean exile
You must log in or register to see images


Ex-GWR 4-6-0 Castle class No 5082 'Swordfish' is seen standing at Platform 7 whilst at the head of the up 'Cambrian Coast Express on 31st August 1957.
Rebuilt at Swindon works from a Star Class locomotive in June 1939, No 5082 was initially named 'Powis Castle' and was allocated to Bath Road shed in Bristol.
The locomotive had a long association with Bath Road shed in Bristol being recorded as being allocated there August 1950 and March 1959 before being allocated to Old Oak Common shed from where it was withdrawn in July 1962 to be scrapped in December 1962 by J Cashmore of Great Bridge. The locomotive was renamed 'Swordfish' in January 1941 in honour of the daring raid on the Italian fleet in Taranto.
The attack was celebrated because on 11th November 1940 a group of brave naval aircrew flew from HMS Illustrious on twenty-one slow, outdated Swordfish biplanes (affectionately known as Stringbags) to attack and ultimately cripple much of the Italian Fleet in the heavily defended port of Taranto.
The author's father, 'Chas Musson' was at the time a Petty Officer on board HMS Illustrious and helped prepare the aircraft for the attack.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back