GWR "Clun Castle" 7029 recreates history at Paddington with the Farewell to Steam railtour! 1/11/25

GWR 4073 Class No. 7029 Clun Castle is a 4-6-0 steam locomotive built at Swindon Works in May 1950 to a design by Charles Collett for operation on the Western Region of British Railways. It was named after Clun Castle in Shropshire. Its last shed allocation was at Gloucester in May 1965. It hauled the last official steam train out of Paddington to Banbury on 11 June 1965. It was officially withdrawn in December that year. After a major overhaul, it emerged in British Railways livery in 1985. In 1986, it hauled the last train from the old Birmingham Moor Street station. In the mid 1980s, some of the restoration work was undertaken by a government funded Community Programme scheme, managed by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.

Seen at London Paddington November 1st 2025, GWR "Clun Castle" 7029 made a grand return to the terminal since its last visit to Paddington on 11/05/24, this time being completely different to her last tour there. She is pulled into Platform 8 by Vintage Trains 37240 [after being scheduled for 12 but sudden change to 8] and sat for 20 minutes before her next leg of the journey onward to Bristol Temple Meads. The tour itself was the 'Farewell to Steam' recreation railtour, a replica to the 1965 tour when she hauled the last Steam hauled train out of Paddington.
After a little break at Paddington, at 14:44pm, Clun Castle made her grand steamy departure and set off towards her destination with 37240 in tow at the rear assisting.

This will be her last mainline railtour before she is withdrawn from service for overhaul maintenance, and will be taken over in the meantime by 60163 "Tornado" for Vintage Trains railtours.
An exciting sight to see being recreated for a hard working locomotive, ready now for a rest...