Western Australia
In 1977, Pendennis Castle was sold to Hamersley Iron, one of the largest iron ore producers in Australia, which intended to run her on its 240 miles (390 km) ore-carrying Hamersley railway in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The company-backed Pilbara Railways Historic Society wanted a steam locomotive, and chairman Sir Russell Madigan had promised them one, possibly Flying Scotsman.
When purchased by Hamersley Iron, Pendennis Castle was in need of considerable boiler repairs, which delayed her departure for Australia. On 29 May 1977, she made her farewell run in the UK, at the head of the Great Western Envoy from Birmingham to Didcot and return. The following day, she headed to Avonmouth, the port for Bristol, where she was loaded aboard the cargo vessel Mishref, and departed for Sydney, Australia, on 2 June 1977.
The Mishref arrived in Sydney on 13 July 1977, and the locomotive was unloaded in Darling Harbour. She was then towed to the carriage works in Eveleigh, where she was stored pending delivery to her ultimate destination, Dampier, Western Australia.
On 26 March 1978, Pendennis Castle was towed to Newcastle, New South Wales, and, together with three new GE C36-7 diesel locomotives, was loaded aboard the Iron Baron for the voyage to the Pilbara. On 29 April 1978, the locomotive was unloaded at Dampier. One week later, Hamersley Iron's Manager, Operations, Ian Burston, handed her over to the Pilbara Railways Historical Society.
On 12 October 1978, Pendennis Castle and two former NSW Railways passenger cars were named Rio Fe ("River of Iron") by Lady Turner, wife of Sir Mark Turner, chairman of Rio Tinto - Zinc Corporation, one of the major investors in Hamersley Iron. A brass plaque bearing the name Rio Fe was fitted above the locomotive's smokebox door. Pendennis Castle's first passenger carrying journey in Western Australia was a return trip from Dampier to Dugite on 7 November 1978, with the locomotive hauling two passenger cars.
Modified in 1980, Pendennis Castle was used for various other excursion trains on the company's ore-carrying railways. After further modifications, she was carried by road to Perth, Western Australia, where she had a historic reunion with Flying Scotsman on 17 September 1989. During the 1990s, after various difficulties and with the expiration of the boiler certificate, she made her final run on 14 October 1994. Hamersley Iron being unprepared to pay a repair bill of 240,000 Australian Dollars, and repairs becoming uneconomical after HI installed fully electronic signalling - which would have required the locomotive to run behind a GE Transportation Systems Dash 9 - resulted in the locomotive being stored for several years.
Read more about this topic: GWR 4073 Class 4079 Pendennis Castle, Preservation
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