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The following locomotives are due to appear at the Centenary Festival. Click on the links to jump straight to the right place on the page. If you would like to know which way the locomotives will be pointing during the festival, scroll
down or click here.
1450
 Locomotive type: 1400 class 0-4-2T ‘auto
tank’ locomotive built by the Great Western Railway for use with ‘auto trailers’ for local passenger train services. It will be coupled to ‘auto trailer’ no. 178 (see below).- Association with the line: Although neither 1450 or 178 ever worked on this line, similar locomotives and coaches were a familiar sight for 40 years, working local trains
between Cheltenham and Honeybourne. Residents knew the service as the ‘Coffee Pot’ – perhaps inspired by the vertical boiler in the steam railcars that ran on the line
until about 1920. The locomotive could be worked by the driver from a driving compartment at one end of the autocoach, the controls being connected to the locomotive, where the fireman remained. Thus the locomotive stayed coupled to the
coach, pushing or pulling it – hence the term often applied to such formations, ‘push-pull’. The locomotive was always on the Cheltenham side of the coach, propelling the train to Honeybourne, and hauling it back again. Click here for more information about auto working in the UK. Among members of the class that were allocated to Cheltenham Malvern Road shed at various times were 1401, 1402, 1417, 1424 1427,
1433, 1441, 1446 and 1467. Several others were allocated to Gloucester also and are likely to have worked from Cheltenham from time to time.
- Locomotive history: The pretty 1400 class (originally 4800 class) replaced earlier auto-fitted tank locomotives. 1450 was built at Swindon as no. 4850 in July 1935 and
from then until 1950 it was a regular performer on the Abingdon, Fairford and Woodstock branches. It then transferred to Slough to work the Windsor and Marlow branches, returning to Oxford in 1959. 1450 was then variously based at Exeter,
Taunton, Yeovil and Exmouth, where it was withdrawn along with preserved no. 1442. These two engines were the last of their class in service, working the former LSWR
branch to Seaton. In 1965 1450 was sold out of service to the Dart Valley Railway. 1450 spent some time on the GWR about six years ago.
- Normally based at the Dean Forest Railway.
Autocoach No 178
- Locomotive type: No. 178 is one of a batch of 10 trailers built by the Great Western Railway at Swindon in 1930, very similar to earlier and later designs. During the
Centenary event it will be coupled to Auto tank no 1450 (see above).
- Association with the line: These auto trailers were very much a part of the rural Great Western Railway scene and passengers using local trains between Cheltenham
and Honeybourne would have been very familiar with them. Internally, they had a driving compartment, a combination of bench seats and seating bays with a capacity of 72 seated passengers, a guards’ vestibule and small luggage compartment.
- History: No.178 spent most of its life at Barmouth, working trains to Dolgellau and Harlech; and Ruabon, working trains to Llangollen. In late British Railways life it was
transferred to South Wales for operation on Tondu and Abercynon services before being taken in to departmental stock at Kidderminster in 1961 and then to Wolverhapton from where it was purchased. No 178 has not been to the GWR before.
- Normally based at the Dean Forest Railway.
3440 City of Truro
 Locomotive type: City class 4-4-0 express
passenger locomotive, built Swindon 1903.- Association with the line: Outside-framed 4-4-0 classes similar to City of Truro, including the Bulldog, Atbara, Bird, Duke and Earl classes, would have been a familiar sight to travellers on the Stratford to
Cheltenham line through to the late 1920s. The more modern-looking inside-framed County class 4-4-0’s were also regular performers on the route. The lightweight 4-4
-0s were ideal for trains to and from Bristol because of a weight restriction on Stonehouse viaduct, which was later strengthened.
- History: This 103-year-old 4-4-0 locomotive is a development of the similar Atbara class and it owes its survival to the fact that, in 1904, it was recorded as achieving a
speed of just over 100mph while hauling a Plymouth to Paddington mail train. This was the first time that such a speed had been reached which gave the locomotive cult
status. It was retired to the embryonic National Railway Museum at York in 1931. It was returned to steam for the third time in time for the centenary of its record-breaking
run, providing a unique opportunity to witness steam traction as our grandparents and great-grandparents knew it. More information about 3440 can be found by clicking here.
- Normally based at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, no. 3440 is owned by the National Railway Museum. It will be making a number of visits to other heritage
railways and the NRM this year and in due course is expected to make further forays on to the main line.
5051 Drysllwyn Castle
 Locomotive type: Castle class 4-6-0, one
of 171 built at Swindon for express passenger services, regarded as one of the most successful steam locomotive classes ever to run on a British railway.- Association with the line: Towards the end of the 1920s, the new Great Western 4-6-0 classes began to appear at the head of express services running between the West Midlands and the West Country and South
Wales, particularly as the summer traffic was increasing and the trains were becoming heavier. The Castles, became strongly associated with the route – for example a Castle was the usual power provided for
The Cornishman, the Wolverhampton-Penzance express introduced by British Railways in 1952. The last member of the class in service, no. 7029 Clun Castle, worked the very last steam-hauled train out of Cheltenham St. James and the same
engine worked the last steam-hauled race train from Paddington to Cheltenham Race Course, during the 1963 Festival.
- History: 5051 was turned out of Swindon in 1936, and named Drysllwyn Castle. However, it only carried this name for a year, because the peers whose names were
applied to a class of 4-4-0s built for the Cambrian lines objected to being associated with such humble machines and lobbied the Great Western to apply their titles to the
splendid new Castle class engines instead. The Great Western obliged and 5051 received the name Earl Bathurst. The Castles were a development of G J Churchward’s highly-successful Star class four-cylinder express locomotives that were
introduced in 1907. Designed by C B Collet, the first Castle (Caerphilly Castle) was completed in 1923. A number of Stars (and indeed the only GW Pacific, The Great
Bear) were rebuilt into Castles. They handled all but the heaviest expresses (entrusted to Collet’s more powerful King class) on the principal routes of the Great Western,
right through to the 1960s. No. 5051 spent most of its working life based at Landore depot in South Wales and became a regular performer on our line, handling express
traffic between Swansea and Birmingham and Wolverhampton. 5051 was withdrawn from service in 1963, finding its way to the infamous Barry scrapyard from where it
was rescued in 1969. It was moved to the Great Western Society’s base at Didcot where it was restored. Over recent years it has been a popular performer on the main line.
- Based at the Great Western Society’s headquarters at Didcot in Oxfordshire.
5542
 Locomotive type: 4575 class 2-6-2T ‘small
Prairie’ locomotives, designed for light passenger and goods traffic.- Association with the line: No. 5542 was for a time based at Cheltenham Malvern Road shed and would have worked services to Honeybourne as well as over the line from Cheltenham via Bourton-on-the-Water to
Kingham. Where services required more than two carriages – for example morning and evening school trains – locomotives of this class would have been favoured.
- History: Known as ‘small Prairies’ (Prairie is the name given to the 2-6-2 wheel arrangement) because they were smaller than the first GWR tank locomotives to be
built with this wheel arrangement. The 4575 class were the latest development of these delightful engines. First introduced in 1904 as 4500 class, the final batch – built
between 1927 and 1929 – were equipped with outside steam pipes to the cylinders, stronger frames and larger water tanks than their predecessors. Some were equipped to handle auto trains with coaches such as no 178, described above (note
that although 5542 did not originally have auto gear, it is currently being fitted with it). An extraordinary number of these useful machines lasted to the end of Western
Region steam and 14 small Prairies have survived. No 5542 was built in 1928 and withdrawn in 1961 and moved to Barry scrapyard where it spent 14 years. It was purchased in 1975 and restored at the West Somerset Railway, where has put in
many years of sterling service. It is owned by Locomotive 5542 Limited.
- Currently based at the South Devon Railway. It is hoped that this engine may visit the GWR again during 2007.
7903 Foremarke Hall
 Locomotive type: Modified Hall class 4-6-0
, the Hawksworth-designed improvement to Collett’s very similar mixed-traffic Hall class 4-6-0.- Association with the line: The Hall and Modified Hall classes would ha ve been an everyday sight on the Cheltenham-Stratford line, working everything from local passenger
services (occasionally), through goods, express freight, parcels trains and express passenger services. The Modified Halls were particularly free-steaming and occasionally shared the fastest express turns with the Castle class (see above).
- History: Altogether 330 Hall and Modified Hall 4-6-0s were built, the last of them (including Foremarke Hall) being delivered by British Railways in 1949. Foremarke
Hall earned the distinction of putting in the fastest post-war run from Paddington to Plymouth and was based for most of its short life at London’s Old Oak Common but
latterly moved to Cardiff, from where it made the occasional run over the Cheltenham-Stratford route. The engine was withdrawn from service in 1964 and moved to Barry,
from where it was purchased by the Foremarke Hall Transport Trust in 1981. The engine was restored at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway at Blunsdon and arrived at
the GWR in June 2004, where it has been a reliable performer. For more information about the differences between the Hall and Modified Hall classes, click here.
- Based at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
92203 Black Prince
 Locomotive type: British Railways
standard 9F class 2-10-0 freight locomotive. One of 251 similar engines introduced in 1954. Black Prince was completed at Swindon in 1959, and sister locomotive, 92220 Evening Star, was the final steam
locomotive built for British Railways, emerging from Swindon works in 1960. The most powerful freight locomotive design to run in the UK.- Association with the line: Although 92203 is not thought to have regularly worked over our line, it was certainly familiar territory
for the class – including the final member, Evening Star. During the final years of steam, the 9Fs supplemented the hard-working GWR 2-8-0 freight locomotives which
tramped the route almost throughout the line’s history (an example of the 2800 class, no 2807, built in 1905, is being restored at Toddington), hauling heavy mineral trains between South Wales and the north.
- History: The 9Fs were among a series of standard designs introduced during the 1950s, intended to replace older locomotives and see British Railways through at
least to the 1970s. However, the modernisation plan cut short their lives and withdrawals began when most of the class had put in less than a decade of work. 92203 was bought straight out of British Railways service by David Shepherd and
named Black Prince. It moved to the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire, arriving from Crewe under its own steam in 1968. It undertook some main line work before going to the East Somerset Railway and eventually to the Gloucestershire
Warwickshire Railway. The engine has recently been completely overhauled.
- Based at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
92212
 Locomotive type: British Railways standard 9F
class 2-10-0 freight locomotive identical to 92203, but equipped with a different tender. One of 251 similar engines introduced in 1954. 92212 was completed at Swindon in 1959 just a few weeks later. Sister
locomotive, 92220 Evening Star, was the final steam locomotive built for British Railways, emerging from Swindon works in 1960. The most powerful freight locomotive design to run in the UK.- Association with the line: Unlike 92203, 92212 was, in fact, a regular visitor to the Cheltenham-Stratford line. It was first allocated to work on the challenging Somerset &
Dorset line between Bath and Bournemouth, duties it shared with 92203 but from there, the two locomotives followed quite different paths. While 92203 found its way to
Birkenhead, 92212 was transferred to Newport, Ebbw Junction handling coal and steel traffic - including over the line via Cheltenham and Stratford to the midlands. The
engine continued to occasionally work over the line when it was transferred to Tyseley in 1962 remaining there until 1966 when it was withdrawn after a disgracefully short working life.
- History: The commentary on 92203 (above) equally applies to 92212. But, while 92203 was bought straight out of service by wildlife artist David Shepherd, 92212 was
consigned to Barry scrap yard in South Wales, where it arrived in 1968. It stayed there quietly rusting until bought by 92212 Holdings Ltd in 1979 and moved to
Loughborough for restoration. The engine steamed once again in 1996. It has since been bought by Jeremy Hosking and is now based at Ropley on the Mid-Hants
Railway, where it is gradually being brought up to main-line running standard. Like Black Prince, it recently received a complete set of new tyres.
- Based at the Mid-Hants Railway.
Special notice concerning 1450 and autocoach 178
Please note that although both 1450 and the autocoach will be operating every day, it has been pre-booked at certain times and will not be available for casual travel. Please check
the working timetable to confirm which services you can travel on. The autocoach has a maximum capacity of 72 passengers seated, 8 standing, plus two wheelchairs. There is no
toilet on the coach. Please respect this historic vehicle and obey station staff who will strictly, but politely, ensure no more than 80 people are on board at any one time. Please do not consume any food or drink while on board.
Festival locomotives: which way are they pointing?
A number of photographers have been asking which way our locomotives will be pointing during the Festival, so here is a quick run-down (North - towards Toddington, South - towards Cheltenham):
Locomotives pointing south:
1450 with auto trailer behind bunker (this is how the service was always run in steam days)
3440 City of Truro
5542
92203 Black Prince
92212
Locomotives pointing north:
5051 Drysllwyn Castle
7903 Foremarke Hall
If you are planning to undertake lineside photography, please make sure you are in posession of a valid lineside pass.
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