Pendennis Castle – a Great Western Railway 4073 Castle class locomotive – will be the star attraction at the Watercress Line’s steam gala from April 29 to May 1, writes Anthony Furnival.

The first Castle class engine was built exactly 100 years ago and Pendennis Castle, the seventh out of 171, went into service in February 1924. 

In 1925 it was loaned for trials to the London North Eastern Railway and was said to have “thoroughly outperformed” the competition, including Flying Scotsman. Later that year those rival engines appeared side by side at the British Empire Exhibition.