6023 King Edward II Ascends a 1 in 5. The “Blue King” Leaves the Dartmouth Steam Railway.

The 5th and last video documenting the arrival and operation at, and departure from the Dartmouth Steam Railway.

“All good things come to an end” as they say and here we bid a fond farewell to 6023 after a very successful season on the Dartmouth Steam Railway. What a wonderful loco this has proved to be and to think that before restoration at Didcot, “experts” scoffed at the idea of bringing her back to mainline condition. One day I watched as she climbed to Churston on the twisty 1 in 60, tender first with 11 coaches plus a dead class 25 without the slightest fuss. Torbay is surrounded by hills and the route from Churston takes us up one of the steepest: Kings Ash Hill and although short, hits a gradient of close to 20%. I arrive just in time to catch the depart from Churston and with two attempts to round the very sharp turn in the yard the “real” experts of Allelys Heavy Haulage coax the mighty load safely out. About 20 minutes later after negotiating the road-works near Tweenaway the escort vehicle passes in order to stop the oncoming traffic. We watch the climb from towards the top of the hill at the steepest part and what an impressive sight and sound of the tractor (with it's huge 680bhp V8 engine) and trailer makes as it passes me and heads away towards the A380 and the motorways back to Didcot. Let’s hope that the next time we see 6023 back in Torbay it will be at the head of a mainline excursion.