Waterman’s 5224: first of GWR’s visitors to arrive! (posted 27th February 2004)

It’s perhaps not widely known that steam is the first passion of Pete Waterman of ‘Pop Idol’ fame. He owns a number of steam locomotives and, according to a recent interview with the Gloucestershire Echo, his favourite is 52xx class 2-8-0T no.5224, which arrived at Toddington on Wednesday 25th of February following a visit to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. The locomotive is expected to remain on the GWR for the rest of the year.

No. 5224 has been the subject of an extensive overhaul at the LNWR Heritage Centre at Crewe. For more information, check the ‘locomotives’ section of our site, or click here.

The photograph show Pete Waterman on the footplate of ‘Castle’ class 4-6-0 ‘Nunney Castle’ (photo courtesy of Channel 4 Television).

City of Truro: latest news (posted 27th February 2004)

Centenarian Great Western Railway ‘City’ class 4-4-0 no 3440 ’City of Truro’, the subject of a £130,000 overhaul at the National Railway Museum in York, once again moved under its own power on Monday 23rd February. Readers of Steam Railway magazine contributed to the cost of the overhaul. The locomotive, which was the first to achieve a recorded 100mph on 9 May 1904 with an ocean mail train from Plymouth to Paddington, has been overhauled in time to celebrate the centenary of this historic achievement.

The locomotive will move to the GWR in time for a re-commissioning ceremony in association with the National Railway Museum and Steam Railway magazine at Toddington on 3rd April 2004. No. 3440 will operate throughout that weekend. It will also be a star guest at ‘Day Out with Thomas’ on 24 and 25 April.

No. 3440 is then expected to make some runs on the main line, returning briefly to the GWR before going on to take part in Railfest 2004 - a major event to celebrate the bi-centenary of steam railways at the National Railway Museum.

The photo shows ‘City of Truro’ moving under its own power for the first time, at York.

Read more about ’City of Truro’ by clicking here.

Chronology updated (posted 21st February 2004)

The chronology - providing a brief history of the line year by year - has been updated. A number of interesting historic photographs have been added, many provided by the Toddington-based Railway Archiving Trust from the GWR Collection. Click here to take look back in time!

City of Truro nears completion (posted 21st February 2004)

The centenarian locomotive no. 3440 ‘City of Truro’ - which is set to visit the GWR for a few weeks from mid-March - is nearing completion of its £130,000 overhaul at the National Railway Museum.

The locomotive, which was the first to reach a recorded 100mph in May 1904, is expected to be steamed at the NRM at around the end of February. It then embarks on a hectic programme of appearances up and down the country, including some main-line runs. However, the start of the programme is on the GWR where the engine will be formally re-comissioned over the weekend of 3rd and 4th April - make a diary note now for this special occasion! On that and subsequent weekends, City of Truro will be working as many trains as possible over the GWR’s Toddington to Cheltenham line.

A significant amount towards the cost of the overhaul was raised by readers of Steam Railway magazine who wanted to see the engine running on the 100th anniversary of its historic 100mph run.

The photographs - taken at the National Railway Museum on 12th February - show the tender already filled with coal and resplendent in the Great Western Railway’s elaborate Edwardian express livery, and the locomotive itself receiving its first coats of green inside the NRM’s workshops.

Click here for details of the locomotive (select 3440 from the list).

Click here for the official GWR press release.

Work starts on Cheltenham signalbox (posted 20th February 2004)

Work has started on a new signalbox at the GWR’s Cheltenham Racecourse station. The foundations were laid close to the site original signalbox during the week of 9th February. The ’box, when complete, will control trains arriving and departing from the station, operating signals and pointwork. Crucially, this will significantly increase the flexibility of train operation and will be particularly important for race trains when large numbers of people need to be transported to and from the station in more than one train.

Unlike the original timber-built structure, the new signalbox will be built using modern techniques and materials. Based around a steel frame, it will have stone-built walls and PVCu window frames but, when complete, it will be of traditional Great Western Railway appearance. The steelwork is being sponsored by racing event specialist Racing Tours who are once again running trains from Toddington for the Cheltenham Festival.

The original signalbox here opened in 1912 and it was normally only operated on race days. It comprised just six levers, controlling the distant, home and starting signals in each direction. When the ’box was ‘switched out’ the signals were left clear. The picture, courtesy Kidderminster Railway Museum and taken by local photographer, the late Bill Potter, shows ‘Castle’ class locomotive no. 7029 Clun Castle standing next to the signalbox with the very last steam-hauled race special from Paddington for the Gold Cup, on 14th March 1963. The signalbox was finally closed in February 1964, and demolished soon after.

See our jargon buster for an explanation of signals and signalling.

RATs on the web! (posted 19th February 2004)

Not the long tailed, sharp toothed variety but the Restoration and Archiving Trust (fondly known as the RATs) has launched its own website at www.ratrust.org. The site contains a wealth of information and some fascinating photographs - a collection that is planned to grow over coming months. The Trust also operates the popular museum, housed in a 1935 -built Great Western Railway gangwayed brake coach at Toddington, and it offers a wealth of mainly GWR-related artefacts, pictures and computer-based presentations.

Slide show at Toddington on 19 March
The Trust is staging a special showing of its slide presentation covering the route of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in the Flag & Whistle at Toddington on Friday 19th March 2004. The show - called ‘The Stratford to Cheltenham Line: Then, then & a little now’ starts at  8.00pm and promises a fascinating evening’s entertainment - for just £1.50 entrance. You'll find more information on the RATs website.

GWR to host Foremarke Hall (posted 13th February 2004)

As one ‘Hall’ class locomotive bows out, another is due to come to the GWR.

Great Western Railway-designed ‘Modified Hall’ class 4-6-0 no. 7903 Foremarke Hall is expected to arrive at Toddington from the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, where it has been restored, in time for the GWR’s Steam Gala from 7 to 9 May.

The engine is a welcome addition to the GWR fleet and is expected to become a mainstay of the line’s services. It is a welcome replacement for the line’s popular sister locomotive, no . 6960 Raveningham Hall, which was withdrawn in December for a heavy general overhaul expected to take up to 18 months to complete.

The Foremarke Hall Transport Group (FHTG) purchased no 7903 from the infamous Barry Scrapyard in South Wales in 1981, the same year the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway established itself at Toddington station. Following a painstaking restoration lasting nearly a quarter of a century, the locomotive was steamed for the first time since 1964, in September 2003.

Says FHTG Chairman Jim Clarke: “Although the Swindon & Cricklade railway have kindly hosted us all these years, at present the line is only one mile long. So we have been looking for a railway that would enable no. 7903 to ‘stretch its legs’ and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway was an obvious choice.” The picture shows no. 7903 at Hayes Knoll on the Swindon & Cricklade Railway with the team who restored it. For more information about the locomotive, click here. To see the press releases about the move to Toddington, click here.

The heavy gang (posted 6th February 2004)

A weighty problem for directors of the GWR following the recent Heritage Railway Association (HRA) awards ceremony was bringing home the trophy - a truly magnificent headboard that once adorned the Royal Train locomotives on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.

Here, GWSR Plc Chairman Bob Stark (left) and fellow directors Bill Hillier, Garry Owen and Ivor Dixon, struggle with the headboard in its glass-fronted case.

The Award will be on display at Toddington during 2004. It is the second major award won by the GWR - in December, it won the Ian Allan Independent Railway of the Year, for offering the best visitor experience. These are the top two awards of the heritage railway movement and it represents a remarkable ‘double’ for the GWR - and it is believed to be the first time a heritage railway has won both accolades in the same year.

Click to read the press releases about the HRA Award and the Ian Allan Award.

Click here to see a picture of the headboard adorning a locomotive at the NRM.

Remarkable award double for GWR (posted 2nd February 2004)

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has won the top accolade of the heritage railway movement, with the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) Annual Award. This follows the Ian Allan Independent Railway of the Year Award, won by the GWR in December.

The HRA award trophy - a magnificent coat of arms that once decorated the locomotive of the Royal train on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway - was accepted by Bob Stark, the GWR’s Chairman, from Dame Margaret Weston DBE, President of the HRA. The awards ceremony took place in Peterborough on Saturday, 31st January.

The award was presented for the GWR's three-mile extension from Gotherington to Cheltenham Racecourse and for restoration of the Racecourse station, which was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in April last year. The judges were particularly impressed by the fact that the extension was completed entirely by volunteers.

Click here to read the press release and for details of the other principal winners.

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