Foremarke Hall: straight out of the box for 'Celebration' (posted 27th April 2004)

The GWR's 'Celebration of Swindon Steam' gala over the weekend of 7th, 8th and 9th of May is set to be one of the railway's best ever. All locomotives running are products of the Great Western works at Swindon and the star is likely to be 1949-built 'Foremarke Hall'.

This Modified hall class 4-6-0 has been the subject of a 20-year overhaul at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway. This week, the engine was undergoing the finishing touches following an exceptional painting job, putting the locomotive into its 'as -built' Brunswick green livery - complete with the 1950's 'cycling lion' British Railways emblem on the tender.

The photograph shows it 'straight out of the box' and gleaming in its brand new coat of paint. The picture was taken yesterday, on Monday the 26th of April. 'Foremarke Hall' is expected to be delivered to Toddington by road on the 5th of May.

Meanwhile, 'large prarie' 2-6-2 tank locomotive no. 5199 should arrive from the Llangollen Railway on Wednesday the 28th of April. Overhaul of this engine, which first moved to Toddington from Barry Scrapyard in the early 1980's, was completed at Llangollen last year.  5199 has another local connection - although it spent most of its working life handling suburban passenger traffic around Birmingham, it was last allocated to Gloucester Horton Road shed before being withdrawn from service in 1963.

Click here to read our latest press release on 'Celebration of Swindon Steam'.
Click here for information about Foremarke Hall and 5199.

Non-stop for Swindon steam (posted 27th April 2004)

On Saturday and Sunday, the 7th and 8th of May, extra trains are being laid on for the 'Celebration of Swindon Steam' gala.

There will be a rare opportunity to travel on a non-stop 'express' from Toddington, departing 09.10, to Cheltenham Race Course. The first train from Cheltenham Race Course to Winchcombe and Toddington departs at 10:00. Other trains will operate to our Green timetable, although in place of some additional services between Toddington and Winchcombe there will be demonstration freight trains.

Loco roster updated - two engines arrive, one leaves (posted 25th April 2004)

The loco roster has been updated* - to view it, click here. You will notice a couple of new locomotives in the roster. The first is the popular 2-6-2 tank locomotive no. 5199 from Llangollen, which is expected to arrive within the next few days. It remains with us for a month. 5199 started its post-Barry Scrapyard career at Toddington, before moving on elsewhere and then undergoing completion of its restoration at the Llangollen Railway in mid-Wales, which is now its home base.

Another engine expected to arrive during the first week of may is 'Modified Hall' class 4-6-0 no 7903 Foremarke Hall. It comes to the GWR following a 20-year overhaul at the Swindon & Cricklate Railway. You can find details of both these locomotives in our loco database.

The National Railway Museum's City of Truro, which has been such a popular locomotive on the GWR since it first steamed here at the end of March, leaves on Wednesday for its main -line tour of duty. It is expected back again for just two weekends, 15/16 and 22/23 of May before returning to the National Railway Museum for Railfest. Keep visiting 'latest news' and the ‘loco roster’ for updates.

*Please note - the roster represents our current plan but is always subject to change. We will post information here as soon as we learn of any changes.

First post at Cheltenham (posted 25th April 2004)

On a beautiful spring day, while the crowds were flocking to Toddington to meet Thomas and his friends, GWR’s Signal & Telegraph department, with help from Permanent Way and “Steve the JCB man” planted the first signal posts at Cheltenham Racecourse. Although these are only bare posts, with no signal arms or fittings, the skyline has changed for the better!

Oh, and Ian got sunburnt!

Thomas to visit the GWR this weekend (posted 19th April 2004)

Thomas the Tank Engine and friends visit the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway this coming weekend - the 24th and 25th of April.

Click here for full details.

Click here to visit Thomas’ own website!

Special train for early risers at 'Celebration of Swindon Steam' (posted 19th April)

The GWR's Celebration of Swindon Steam takes place over the weekend of the 7th to 9th of May. Every engine running during the weekend will be a product of the Great Western Railway's legendary Swindon works.

And, on Saturday and Sunday, there will be a special non-stop run departing 9:10 from Toddington to Cheltenham Racecourse behind the newly-arrived Modified Hall 4-6-0, no 7903 Foremarke Hall.* The train will then form an extra 10:00 departure from Cheltenham Race Course, which will cross the 10:20 from Toddington at Winchcombe. Remaining services will be as published in the timetable.

The full line-up of locomotives* is:
42xx class 2-8-0T no 4247
5010 class 2-6-2T no 5199
52xx class 2-8-0T no 5224
2884 class 2-8-0 no 3822
Modified Hall 4-6-0 no 7903 Foremarke Hall

For more information on these locomotives click here.

Train times on Friday will be our standard Red timetable although we hope in addition, to run a freight service between Toddington and Winchcombe.

Train times on Saturday and Sunday will be our Green timetable with the addition of:
Toddington dep 09:10 non-stop to Cheltenham, arrive 09.35.
Cheltenham dep 10:00, Winchcombe dep 10.24 and arrive Toddington 10.33.

A working timetable will be published in a few days' time.

* Subject to availability. The GWR reserves the right to cancel, alter or suspend any train or event without notice.

City of Truro - hopefully back on Sunday 18th (posted 16th April 2004)

Unfortunately City of Truro is unlikely to be operating on Saturday the 17th of April. However, we are hopeful that it will be back in service on Sunday the 18th of April.

Update (19th April) - due to the efforts of the NRM and GWR, City of Truro was back in service on Saturday the 17th. We apologise if we inadvertently deterred anyone from visiting us - however, it was a tremendous effort by the NRM staff and GWR volunteers to achieve this - thanks to all concerned!

City of Truro - out for maintenance (posted 14th April 2004)

We're sorry to tell you that City of Truro will not be running this week. The National Railway Museum's engineers and the GWR's own locomotive department hope to see it operating again this coming weekend, the 17th and 18th of April. The problem, as mentioned in our previous news item, is the jockey valve (or 'W' valve) which is a vital component of the system that lubricates the pistons and cylinders. A replacement part is expected to be delivered on Friday. The opportunity is also being taken to install a set of new firebars.

Please visit this site again for further news. Meanwhile, GWR 2-8-0 no. 3822 is operating services today (Wednesday) and Thursday. There are no trains scheduled for Friday.

City of Truro - not operating today (posted 13th April 2004)

If you visited the GWR yesterday (on Easter Monday), you will have been as disappointed as us to find City of Truro outside the former Toddington goods shed shrouded in steam - but not going anywhere! This is because a component of the lubrication system (known as a 'W' valve) had cracked and this meant the locomotive had to be taken out of service immediately. A replacement part must now be found - unfortunately, it is of a pattern of a much earlier design that more recent Great Western locomotives so the 'W' valves we have on site didn't fit. The National Railway Museum is sourcing the correct part and if a replacement can be found quickly, no 3440 will be back in service on Wednesday. Otherwise, it may not be until the weekend.

Meanwhile, the big, black heavy freight engine no 3822, on loan to the GWR from Didcot Railway Centre, will be used this week until City of Truro is back in operation. Keep visiting this site for the latest news.

Website updates (posted 11th April 2004)

In the last week or so, there have been a number of changes to the website. Today, the first of our mini-sites has gone live. This section of the site will be maintained by volunteers engaged in the restoration of 4270 (a 2-8-0 tank engine), and will keep you regularly updated on the progress of that project. You can visit the 4270 project pages by clicking here.

The biggest change however is one behind the scenes. The website has moved home (well, it’s moved to a different computer), which we hope will solve the occasional problems we have been having with our email (we hope that none of you have been affected by this - further details are available here - and once again we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused).

The really observant amongst you might have noticed that the colours on the online timetable have been changed to match those on the printed timetable leaflet! (Alright, so I got in first, but it’s easier to change the website than to reprint zillions of leaflets - Webmaster)

In the next week or so, we hope to add a full text search facility to this site - the site is continuing to grow, and this is now becoming a necessity. The site is currently attracting over 400 visits per day, which is great news!

Finally, in case you hadn’t noticed, the GWR online shop has been live for the last couple of weeks, so why not pay it a visit?

City of Truro not available today (posted 9th April 2004)

Regretfully, 3440 City of Truro is not available today because of a minor problem with its lubrication system, which developed only yesterday.

This, together with some additional teething problems, is being rectified today by National Railway Museum and GWR staff. Remember that the engine ran again for the first time less than two weeks ago. So far it has clocked up about 400 miles - and some minor problems could be expected.

We hope that 3440 will be back in service tomorrow (Saturday 10th of April). But we’re delighted to tell you that taking its place today is 2-8-0 tank locomotive, no 5224, which belongs to Pete Waterman.

City of Truro 'Steam Railway' event - exclusive pictures! (posted 7th April 2004)

These great pictures of City of Truro's inaugural day at the GWR (click here) on Friday the 2nd of April, were taken by Michael Wild of Steam Railway magazine. The occasion was the 'thank-you' event for readers of the magazine who contributed around £50,000 towards the £130,000 cost of transforming the 101-year-old 'City' class 4-4-0 from highly polished museum piece, to polished performer on the GWR. Owned by the National Railway Museum, the locomotive has been returned to steam to mark the centenary of its record-breaking 100mph run with a mail train from Plymouth to London.

City of Truro's first steaming at the NRM in February, was covered in the current issue of Steam Railway. The next issue, which will be on the bookstalls on the 23rd of April, will provide full coverage of no. 3440's debut on the GWR and its first public day of operation on Saturday the 3rd of April. The engine will be working as much as possible throughout April - visit our Loco Roster to find out the days it is expected to operate.

Oh Yez! City of Truro’s triumphant return (posted 6th April 2004)

City of Truro’s return to operation over the weekend of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of April was a triumph. The exuberance of brass on this iconic locomotive reflected the mood of the occasion - bright, cheerful and a polished performance!

The return to steam for No. 3440 City of Truro, in this the centenary of its record-breaking, 100mph run with a mail train from Plymouth to London, was the initiative of its owner the National Railway Museum and Steam Railway magazine, whose readers contributed over £50,000 towards the £130,000 cost of overhauling the locomotive. On Friday the 2nd of April, the GWR organised a special day for all those who had contributed - and around 550 people turned up at Toddington to enjoy special runs to Cheltenham Racecourse and the official ‘hand-over’ to the GWR. Saturday saw the public ‘launch’ of the engine and over the weekend, every train hauled by the Swindon-built masterpiece was packed.

“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” “Last saw it steaming in 1960!” “Poetry in motion!” “Isn’t that just the prettiest engine you’ve ever seen?” were typical remarks from the thousands of people who came to the GWR to see city of Truro’s first public runs since overhaul. And, Oh Yez! - even Cheltenham’s Town Crier arrived on Saturday to bring civic greetings from Cheltenham’s Mayor and the Borough Council, going on to travel on the train - much to the delight of the passengers!

But this is just the start. City of Truro is expected to run most weekends throughout April including Easter week and ‘Day Out with Thomas’ on the 24th and 25th of April. It then leaves the GWR for a mainline runs between Bristol and Paignton on the 8th and 10th of May - either side of the 100th anniversary of the occasion when this plucky little locomotive was recorded as touching 102.3mph at Whiteball in Somerset, and over the same stretch of line. It then returns to the National Railway Museum for the Railfest celebration of the bi -centenary of steam in May before going on to visit other heritage railways.

City of Truro is expected to return to the GWR for the winter and Spring of 2005.

For more information on Railfest, click here. For information about City of Truro’s mainline runs, click here (select steam-hauled from the menu on the left). For the GWR timetable, click here. To read the GWR’s press releases on 3440, click here.

Shop online at the GWR (posted 5th April 2004)

The GWR Shop is now online, supplying a range of GWR branded items by mail order. Click here to visit the shop.

Click here to return to the News Archive.