Photo:
Robert Frise - Defiant on static display in Rewley Road

Photo:
Andrew Bratton - Defiant operating an Up Yard train during a 1990 visit

The Castle class was designed by Charles Benjamin Collett as a development of his predecessor's, George Jackson Churchward, Star class. Production begun at the Great Western Railway's Swindon works in 1923, as the most powerful locomotive in Britain, and continued under British Railways until 1950.

No. 5080 was built in 1939 and initially named Ogmore Castle. Based at Old Oak Common Depot in London she worked expresses to Birmingham and the West Country. A transfer to Cardiff Canton came in 1941 and a rename to Defiant as a number of Castles to receive names associated with the Royal Air Force aircraft involved in the Battle of Britain. During her time in Wales she saw service on titled trains such as The Red Dragon and The South Wales Pullman. A further transfer to Carmarthen came in 1959, followed by a final move to Llanelli in 1961. Withdrawal came in 1963 and disposal to Dai Woodham's scrapyard in Barry, South Wales.

Purchased for preservation by the Birmingham Railway Museum Trust, restoration commenced in 1985 with No. 5080 making her main line debut in 1988 on a charter from Tyseley to Didcot. Over the next decade she made several visits to numerous preserved lines, including a visit to Quainton in 1990.

No. 5080 came to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre on long term loan on 21 January 2002, and was exhibited in the Rewley Road Visitor Centre, along with the GWR Special Saloon No. W9001 used by Winston Churchill and President Eisenhower during the Second World War. There were no plans to restore her to working order at Quainton, as her role at the centre is at the head of a static train in Rewley Road. On 19th May 2017 Defiant left Quainton to return to Tyseley for overhaul for mainline operations - see Defiant's website.

Defiant has been replaced in Rewley Road by the National Railway Museum's Cornwall.

Photo:
Alan Hogg - Defiant being prepared in Quainton's Up Yard, with 9466 in the background

References:
Portraits of the Castles; B. Holden & K. H. Leech
Castles & Kings at Work; Michael Rutherford
Tyseley Locomotive Works Website
Visiting locomotive gallery - Quainton News No. 101 - April 2009