J94 at Toddington
posted 21st December

We are indebted to Paul Stratford for the following picture showing Andrew Goodman’s J94 safely arrived at Toddington today.

Fifth engine for Christmas Cracker?
posted 21st December

Just delivered to the GWR is another steam locomotive – this time a powerful 0-6-0 saddle tank built to a wartime austerity design that latterly saw service as No. 15 on the industrial Wemyss Private Railway in Fife, Scotland. The locomotive is owned by GWSR Plc director Andrew Goodman.

No. 15 is a Hunslet-designed Austerity 0-6-0ST, one of 13 subcontracted to Andrew Barclay. One of only three of the Andrew Barclay-built examples to survive, it is at the final stage of a very extensive overhaul and this week passed its boiler examination.  The locomotive will undergo practical testing on the GWR and is expected to take part in the GWR’s Christmas Cracker on 29th and 30th December.

It is expected to share duties with visiting North Norfolk Railway-based J15 0-6-0 on the local service between Toddington and Winchcombe. This means a five-engine diagram and you can see the revised working timetable here.

You can find out more about No. 15 by clicking here and see pictures of the engine’s overhaul, as well as a brief summary of the history of this very successful wartime design of which nearly 500 examples were eventually built.

Jingle Bells!
posted 14th December

We’re now well into the pre-Christmas activity with the GWR’s Santa trains now all but full (there are a very few places remaining – click here for details and please telephone 01242 621 405 to book a place).

Plans are also well in hand for the Diesel Running day on Thursday 27th December – for a timetable click here – and the Christmas Cracker steam spectacular on 29th and 30th December – for a timetable of this event click here.  Normal Blue timetable services run on the other days with the exception of Christmas day. Last day of the 2007 season is 1st January 2008, when the railway closes for winter maintenance, opening again on 1st March. For details of the 2008 timetable, click here.

If you would like a printed copy of the new timetable brochure for the coming season, please send a self-addressed envelope (minimum DL size) to 2008 Timetable, GWSR, The Railway Station, Toddington, Glos. GL54 5DT.

RAF Memorial Flight fly in with David Shepherd
posted 14th December

Monday 10th December was a rather special day for artist and wildlife conservationist David Shepherd and his locomotive Black Prince which is resident on the GWR. For on this day, a special ‘fire and drive’ event was held for friends from the RAF Memorial Flight which, amongst dozens of other aircraft, maintain and fly the WW2 Hurricane and Spitfire fighters and Lancaster bomber to dozens of air displays every year. David has painted Memorial Flight subjects and this was a chance for him to share his passion for steam with the Flight’s engineers and aeronaughts.

By any measure it was a splendid day, as the first picture shows (taken by Squadron Leader Stuart Reid) of the happy team and Black Prince, with David Shepherd leaning out of the cab window.  Later in the evening, Black Prince was quietly simmering before being ‘put to bed’ and the picture by Ian Crowder captures the engine bathed in the yard lights at Toddington.

Christmas diesel day
posted 10th December, updated 12th December

Hot on the heels of the news of the Christmas Cracker, we are pleased to now make available the timetable for the Christmas diesel day on 27th December. Locomotive allocations have now been added to the timetable. Click here to view the timetable.

Christmas should be a cracker!
posted 5th December

Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year – for churches; for shops, for Santa, for hard-pressed parents and for the GWR. The Santa Specials are now well under way (see our earlier news item) and there are just a few trains still with availability.

After Christmas, trains operate every day from Boxing Day to New Years’s Day.  A normal Blue timetable operates on Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and on new Year’s Day (1st January). And do we have Christmas treats in store on the other days!

Diesel running day – 27th December
This traditional day is the last opportunity to savour the GWR’s first-class fleet of heritage main -line diesels before they are shut down until the 2008 season. They include 37215, 37324, D8137, 47105, 24081 and electro-diesel 73129. There’s a busy day in prospect – but beware, as only 47105 is equipped with a steam heat boiler, you’ll need to wrap up warm – especially if it is a clear, frosty day!

Christmas Cracker – 29th and 30th December
Once again, the GWR is turning out all possible steam locomotives for an intensive timetable which you can view here over the weekend of 29th and 30th December – the perfect antidote to cold turkey! The ‘home fleet’ will be operating including 9F 2-10-0 no. 92203 Black Prince; Modified Hall 4-6-0 no. 7903 Foremarke Hall and City class 4-4-0 no. 3440 City of Truro (courtesy of the National Railway Museum). Also in steam and working the local between Toddington and Winchcombe will be visiting GER J15 class 0-6-0 no. 65462 (courtesy of the Midland & Great Northern Railway Society and the North Norfolk Railway). There may be an additional surprise visitor, too!

Again, if the weather is cold, wrap up warm – because the J15’s steam heat is not as effective as it could be while City of Truro has a steam heat pipe only at the tender end of the engine (so trains running tender-first from Cheltenham, hauled by this engine, won’t be heated).

For both the diesel and steam events, lineside passes are available from the booking office at Toddington station.

5542 overhaul progressing well
posted 5th December

When Great Western ‘small Prairie’ 2-6-2T no. 5542 visits the GWR again next April, she should be running like clockwork. That’s because work on the ‘intermediate’ overhaul of the engine at the South Devon Railway is making steady progress. All of the driving wheelsets* have now received new tyres and the pony truck wheels are due for re-profiling.

Other work includes frame strengthening in the area above the front driving axleboxes - this is a notorious ‘weak spot’ with this class of locomotive. It is hoped that by using a successful repair method applied during BR days, this problem will be overcome 'once and for all'. Meanwhile, the pistons and valves are out for checking and ring replacement as necessary and the rear piston covers are receiving attention to cure leaks.

The axle boxes are also receiving attention with remetalling taking place before reassembly with all new oil pads. The driving wheels will be remounted using a completely new set of springs. The new steam brake cross-member is also being fitted and much of the inside motion will be refurbished and re-pinned before final assembly. This work is planned for completion by late February. The annual boiler inspection will also take place early in 2008 and, hopefully, time will also allow complete fitting of the Auto gear at the front end to add some variation to auto working next year.

Says 5542 Ltd Chairman John Wood: “We’re very pleased with progress so far and we are on schedule to take 5542 back to the West Somerset Railway at the beginning of March, when it will carry a temporary British Railways livery for the period of the Spring Gala.

“I’m delighted to confirm that 5542 will then return to the GWR for the remainder of 2008, although visits to other railways’ gala events are not being ruled out - subject, of course, to work requirement on the GWR.”

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The pictures, courtesy 5542 Ltd, show the engine’s tyres being fitted.
(1)Heating the old tyre, thus expanding its diameter, to allow it to be removed
(2)Preparing the new tyre for warming in the gas ring
(3)Fitting the tyre on to the wheel - the temperature of the tyre is about 220 deg. C
(4)Rolling the Gibson ring into place

* Steam locomotive wheels are made up of a cast steel centre and a high grade, hard steel tyre which is an ‘interference’ fit on the wheel. Following removal of the old tyre the rim is lightly machined ready to accept the new tyre. The new tyre is machined to a slightly smaller inside diameter than the outside diameter of the wheel. The tyre is then heated to about 220 deg. C on a gas ring. This causes the tyre to expand, thus increasing its diameter, so it can be dropped on to the wheel. Whilst still hot, a circlip known as a ‘Gibson ring’ is sprung into the recess in the back of the tyre and, to hold it in place, the back of the tyre is rolled down to crimp the tyre in place, the assembly then remaining secure on the wheel. As the tyre cools, it shrinks on to the wheel. Once each pair of wheels (the wheelset) is completed, the assembly is mounted in a wheel turning lathe and each finish machined to the correct diameter and flange profile. Locomotive tyres have sufficient metal to allow them to be re-profiled from time to time as they become worn by running over the rails and by application of the brakes, which bear on the running surface of the wheel. There is an excellent description with good photographs of the whole process on the South Devon Railway’s website here.

Jingle bells!
posted 5th December

The weather may have been chilly with more than a hint of rain in the air, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of hundreds of youngsters as well as the young at heart over the weekend of 1st and 2nd December, when the GWR ran its first ‘Santa Specials’.

Spot on time, Santa and his helpers were at hand on the platform as the first train, hauled by the quaint J15 class 0-6-0 on loan from the Midland & Great Northern Railway Trust – drifted into Winchcombe station.  With smiles of anticipation, children were ushered into Santa’s ‘living room’ built in to a special railway carriage in the bay platform at the station – and came away with smiles of delight as they clutched their presents.

“It’s been a wonderful start to the Santa season,” said head elf, Colin Fewell.  “Santa was in great form and several of the first trains were fully booked.  The weather could certainly have been better and the sight of Santa fighting his umbrella, as the first train pulled away with its cargo of happy families, was hardly the stuff of Christmas cards but everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves!”

He added that all volunteer staff seemed to have entered into the spirit of the occasion and helped to make the weekend go with a swing.

There are still tickets available over the weekend of 8th and 9th December (next weekend); on Friday 21st and on the last train of the day on 22nd December.

“Many of the trains are fully booked including those on 16th and 17th December.  Remaining tickets are selling fast – so if you don’t want to miss the best Santa experience in Gloucestershire, then you’ll need to be quick!” adds Colin.

You can find out more by clicking here.

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Pictures by Ian Crowder:

(1)  J15 class 0-6-0 no. 65462 – built at Stratford in 1912 to an 1880s design – is greeted by Santa as the first Santa Special of the season arrives at Winchcombe
(2)  65462 waits patiently at the head of the first Santa train of the season
(3)  Mince pies:  How many mince pies?
(4)  An admiring crowd watch as the locomotive ‘buffers-up’ to the train ready for the return trip to Cheltenham
(5)  Santa hangs on tight as the wind tries to take his umbrella!

Another record year in prospect?
posted 5th December

Passenger figures continue to show an encouraging upward trend at the end of November, with the year to date figure 5.7 per cent up on the same time last year.  The turn of the month showed that we had carried just short of 60,000 passengers – a figure undreamed of just a few years ago.  In fact, ticket sales totalled 59,839, which means that if we carry the same number of passengers in December as we did in 2006 (10,700), the railway will pass the 70,000 mark for the first time. And the railway has made a good start – several of the first Santa trains over the weekend of 1st and 2nd December were fully booked.

“November is always our quietest month,” says head station master, Colin Dymock. “But over the month we sold 1,823 tickets including 150 on the race trains and 537 over the diesel gala weekend, both a worthwhile improvement over 2006.”

Of the total, Cheltenham Race Course ticket office accounts for 23 per cent of the total.

Latest Permanent Way department update
posted 5th December

Paul Fuller has provided this update on the latest goings on in the PWay department.

Latest P&O progress update
posted 5th December

Thanks again go to John McMillan for the latest update on P&O. The report can be found here.

Diesel driving experiences - book now to avoid disappointment
posted 5th December

There has been an excellent early take up of the GWR’s diesel driving experience courses. To avoid disappoint book early! Full details can be found here.