The day after the Queen's 80th birthday, a King only four years younger was given a Royal welcome by hundreds of spectators at Fishguard Harbour on Saturday.

King Edward I, a 76-year-old former GWR steam locomotive hauling an 11-carriage train, struck chords of nostalgia among the older spectators and awe among the younger when it arrived during a 300-mile Bristol-Cardiff-Carmarthen-Fishguard round trip carrying several hundred railway buffs.

Magnificent in gleaming green and gold GWR livery, the 1930 engine is one of 30 King class locomotives which worked the London express services to Bristol, Plymouth and Cardiff for some 30 years before steam gave way to diesel. The 'Kings' never worked west of Cardiff because their axle weight was too great for the bridges, which were later strengthened to accommodate modern diesel units.

Hundreds of spectators took photographs and videos of the locomotive, which arrived in rather undignified fashion coupled tender first to the back of a diesel-hauled train.

Its departure was magnificent, but Manorowen Bank's steep incline, which always demanded the help of a 'banker' locomotive, almost proved too much for King Edward I, which struggled up at walking pace, blasting at one beat a second, before gathering speed on the level track.

Rescued in 1973 and restored during a 16-year rebuild, the locomotive carries out some 25 main line excursions a year for Birmingham-based Rail Tour Company and needs an overhaul every seven years.