King class 4-6-0 no.6024 King Edward 1 climbing towards Eastcombe, 18 Mar 2005 [3]. Just as the Castles were enlarged Stars, the Kings were enlarged Castles and were the largest, heaviest and most powerful 4-6-0s to run in Britain. They were introduced by Collett in 1927 in response to a request from the GWR general manager Sir Felix Pole for a “super power” locomotive as the other three railways now had more powerful engines than the Castles. Because of their axle load of 22.5 tons the Kings could only run on the Paddington - Plymouth and Paddington - Wolverhampton lines, as a result only 30 were built, compared with 179 Castles. No. 6024 was withdrawn in 1962 and returned to working order in 1989 by the 6024 Preservation Society and is regularly used on main line specials.