UK: Great Western Railway has unveiled a GWR Class 800 dedication celebrating The Greatest Gathering, one year after Alstom’s Derby festival attracted more than 40,000 visitors.

The GWR Class 800 dedication honours The Greatest Gathering, a Derby railway festival that attracted more than 40,000 visitors.
Photo: www.alstom.com

GWR Class 800 dedication unveiled at Paddington

GWR presented the dedication on Class 800 No. 800012 at London Paddington on 31 July 2026. The design commemorates the three-day festival held at Alstom’s Litchurch Lane Works in Derby in August 2025.

The anniversary display also brought together two vehicles connected with the celebrations. Avanti West Coast’s Alstom-built Class 390 Pendolino No. 390200 Railway 200 had appeared at the festival’s launch in January 2025, while GWR heritage Class 57 locomotive No. 57604 Pendennis Castle had featured at the main event.

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The Greatest Gathering brought 140 vehicles to Derby

The Greatest Gathering ran from 1 to 3 August 2025 and assembled more than 140 historic and modern railway vehicles. Alstom said over 40,000 people attended from around the world, making the fleet display and visitor total the clearest measures of the festival’s scale.

The event formed part of Railway 200, the UK programme marking two centuries of the modern railway. Its exhibits ranged from Locomotion No. 1 and Flying Scotsman to an Alstom-built Eurostar power car, connecting early steam technology with high-speed passenger rail.

The festival also raised more than £100,000 for charity. The new GWR dedication now places its name on a member of the operator’s Intercity Express Train fleet, extending the commemoration beyond the original Derby event.

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