With summer on it's way, it was time to visit Didcot Railway Centre once again for their steam gala, which would be featuring their fleet of locomotives, two of which have just returned from their travels to the West Country, Wales and the Midlands.

The event would see GWR 6000 'King' Class 6023 King Edward II return to it's home base, after spending the winter at the Great Central Railway. The King was there for repairs, and was welcomed back into traffic at the Winter Steam Gala, where it ran alongside SR N15 Class 777 Sir Lamiel and a number of other locomotives along the double track, 8-mile line. Following a period of running in, the locomotive was returning to Didcot, in preparation for main line running.

The steam gala would also see the return of Steam Railmotor 93, along with it's new Autotrailer, no.92. The Railmotor had visited the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, the West Somerset Railway and the Llangollen Railway (where it picked up the Autotrailer). While at the Bodmin and Wenford, the Railmotor ran on the main line, albeit only on the Looe Branch.
The final working locomotive would be GWR 43XX Class 5322, and would be both shunting and performing on the main demonstration line throughout the Bank Holiday weekend.

The full line up of locomotives:-
- GWR 6000 'King' Class 6023 King Edward II
- GWR 43XX Class 5322
- Steam Railmotor 93 and Autotrailer 92 (Newly restored at the Llangollen Railway)

I spent the day in the company of fellow YouTubers Tom (BristolCastle), Kristian (letmadnessbegin) and Dan (SatNavDan), and I thank them all for their company. The day began cloudy, but thankfully became brighter and sunnier as the day went on. There was the usual mixture of linesiding and travelling behind the three locomotives, with all three locomotives going well on the short demonstration lines. Towards the end of the day, 5322 and 6023 were coupled up, and they ran a total of 4 trips together.

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