A splendid shot of 4079 , "Pendennis Castle " at Westbury , the site of its earlier failure on 9th. May 1964 when its firebars burned through whilst working down to Plymouth from Paddington on the " City of Truro " Special .
By a strange twist , however, that failure may well have saved this famous engine from a fate at a breakers' yard as whilst still laid up on Westbury shed and before it could be moved to Swindon and inevitable withdrawal plans for its private purchase and restoration were formulated and completed.
Following subsequent restoration at Swindon , and now in private ownership , 4079 worked its first Special from Paddington via Oxford to Worcester on Sunday , 8th August , 1965 , returning via Gloucester and Swindon ,the first of many such appearances , before its sale to Hamersley Iron in Australia , the engine departing from these shores on 4th. June 1977.
Returned from Australia to Avonmouth docks on 8th. July 2000 and happily now back with the Great Western Society at Didcot 4079 will hopefully soon be back on the main line again .
Happy days !