Locomotive roster updated
posted 28th February 2005

Apologies to those who arrived at Toddington last weekend (the 26th and 27th of February) expecting to see City of Truro working Elegant Excursions trains on both days, as advertised in the Locomotive Roster. Sadly, the locomotive failed (see separate news item).  However, Foremarke Hall was a worthy substitute and provided some excellent photographic opportunities.

The locomotive roster has been updated with full details of motive power, both steam and diesel, allocated for services until the 20th of March. Mainstay of our steam power will be Collet 2251 class 0-6-0 no 3205 and Hawkesworth Modified Hall class 4-6-0 no 7903 Foremarke Hall.

At the end of March the steam fleet will be bolstered by the arrival of Kinlet Hall and City of Truro and full information will be available on the Locomotive Roster nearer the time.

The final service on each public timetabled day during March will be in the hands of steam-heat equipped class 47, no 47105. A diesel is allocated to haul the last return service from Toddington on every Red and Blue timetabled day throughout the year. Also on the roster is full information about diesel services for the next two months.

Special trains are being provided once again for the Cheltenham Festival, which runs for four days this year, the 15th to 18th of March. These services are for pre-booked festival-goers only: for information, contact Racing Tours on 01386 834013 or visit the Racing Tours website.

Click here to visit the Roster.

City of Truro’s fleeting visit
posted 28th February 2005

The National Railway Museum’s celebrated City class 4-4-0 City of Truro arrived for a fleeting visit to the GWR last week - but sadly, it didn’t turn a wheel under its own power.

The locomotive suffered a leaking mudhole door* gasket while steam was being raised on Saturday morning. Fortunately, no. 7903 Foremarke Hall was in steam and was undergoing a test run following winter maintenance and admirably stood in for no. 3440 on the booked Elegant Excursions luncheon trains on both Saturday and Sunday. Foremarke Hall is pictured here approaching Winchcombe with Elegant Excursions on Sunday.

Both GWR and NRM staff were disappointed by the turn of events but guests on the trains - who included a number of leading names from the railway preservation movement and contributors to Steam Railway magazine’s appeal for funds to overhaul the locomotive - appeared to enjoy their day nevertheless. “That’s steam locomotives for you and, after all, City of Truro is more than a century old,” commented one. “It’s a shame but it certainly hasn’t spoiled our day.”

Ray Towell, the NRM’s engineer accompanying City of Truro, described his mood as ‘unhappy’ after the failure. “GWR locomotive department staff worked hard to get the locomotive unloaded and coupled to its tender, prepared and cleaned and I’m sorry it was all in vain. But the engine is returning to the GWR in less than a month and it will be staying here until the end of May.”

Tony Streeter, editor of Steam Railway magazine, travelled on the Elegant Excursions luncheon train on Sunday. “I’ve spoken with many of the guests and there are no complaints – it has been a splendid day with an excellent lunch. It’s hard to imagine a better way to enjoy a first-class meal than watch the Cotswold landscape sliding by, even if it wasn’t City of Truro’s steam drifting over the fields.”

Weighty presentation to Andrew Goodman
The two trains were hosted by Andrew Goodman, a long-term supporter of the GWR and who played a significant part in City of Truro’s overhaul. On Sunday, Alan Moore, who funded overhaul of the locomotive’s boiler and Bill Parker, at whose Forest of Dean workshops the repairs were carried out, presented Andrew Goodman with a full-size brass replica of City of Truro’s substantial builders’ plate.

“This is a complete surprise,” said Andrew, accepting the heavy oval plate. “It’s a very kind gesture - I’ll have to get the wall at home strengthened now to take the weight of it!”

Andrew (centre) is pictured here during the presentation with Alan Moore (left) and Bill Parker, on the running plate of Foremarke Hall at Toddington.

*Mudhole door: a small oval access doors at the bottom of the firebox to facilitate washing out of the boiler.

Over 13,000 miles on the GWR!
posted 22nd February 2005

How many locomotives are there on the GWR? A popular question and, of course, it depends on when the question is asked… but during 2004, regular visitors would have seen no fewer than 11 steam locomotives in operation. Collectively, they travelled 13509 miles over our ten-mile route.

The engine that achieved the highest mileage was Pete Waterman’s chunky 2-8-0 tank locomotive no. 5224, clocking up almost 3,000 miles. Three others managed in excess of 2000 miles each, 7903 Foremarke Hall with 2582 miles to its credit, 42xx 2-8-0T no 4247 with 2409 miles and Didcot’s 2-8-0 no 3822 achieving 2073 miles.

The highest number of locomotives in steam at any one time was over the spectacular ‘Harvest Festival of Steam’ of the 11th and 12th of September, when no fewer than eight locomotives were in steam - a record for the GWR.

The engine with the lowest mileage was 92203 Black Prince, which covered just 10 miles during its rededication ceremony in the presence of owner David Shepherd and Alan Tichmarsh. This 9F class 2-10-0 is now away for retyring of its driving wheels following concern about the amount of wear on them, particularly to the rear flanges.

The full record for 2004 is:

Locomotive Miles covered Days in steam 5224 2,927 60 7903 Foremarke Hall 2,582 48 4247 2,409 47 3822 2,073 39 3205 1,625 34 3440 City of Truro 1,044 20 5199 540 11 King George 123 39 ‘Thomas’ (aka 47298) 96 4 6430 80 2 92203 Black Prince 10 3 Total 13,509 307

You find out about most of these engines in our locomotive database.

Loco roster updated
posted 20th February 2005

We are getting close to the start of our operating season and the locomotive roster has now been updated. One feature of the timetable is regular diesel haulage of the last return trip from Toddington - departing 16:30 and returning from Cheltenham Race Course at 17:15. On all public operating days throughout March this train will be in the charge of steam-heat equipped class 47, no 47105. Click here to view our full timetable. You can obtain a printed copy by visiting Toddington station or Tourist Information Centres, or send a DL sized stamped, self-addressed envelope to: 2005 Timetable, The Railway Station, Toddington GL54 5DT.

Flying visit by City of Truro
posted 19th February 2005

The National Railway Museum's celebrated 'City' class 4-4-0 no. 3440 City of Truro, will be making a flying visit to the GWR next weekend, the 26th and 27th of February. But it will not be running public services - instead, it will operate 'Elegant Excursions' dining trains for a combination of invited guests and those who contributed to the cost of converting City of Truro from museum exhibit to a living, breathing locomotive once again.

City of Truro - believed to have been the first locomotive to exceed 100mph in 1904 - will then be leaving for short visits to the Swindon & Cricklade Railway, the West Somerset Railway and the Mid-Hants Watercress Line before returning to the GWR at the end of March. It then remains based at Toddington for two months before embarking on another tour of heritage railways, including Llangollen, the Cholsey & Wallingford and the North Norfolk Railway.

Kinlet Hall comes to Toddington
posted 18th February 2005

Toddington resident no. 7903 Foremarke Hall will soon be joined by older sister, no. 4963 Kinlet Hall.

Kinlet Hall, owned by the Kinlet Hall Locomotive Company Limited is expected to arrive at Toddington just in time for Easter, following its guest appearance at the West Somerset Railway’s Spring gala between the 17th and 20th of March. The locomotive will then stay on the line until the end of May, after taking part in the GWR’s own Gala between the 13th and 15th of May. It will then return to its base at Tyseley before taking part in two main line runs: it is booked to run to Chester on the 18th of June and to York on the 9th of July.

No. 4936 was built at Swindon in 1929, twenty years earlier than Foremarke Hall. Designed by C B Collett, the Hall class was a highly successful mixed-traffic 4-6-0 design, continuing in production right through to nationalisation. The final locomotives, of which Foremarke Hall is an example, were turned out with a number of improvements by F W Hawkesworth and became known as the ‘Modified Hall’ class.

Click here to view the differences between the Hall and Modified Hall classes - and when Kinlet Hall arrives you will be able to look for the design differences yourself, as it will often be operating along with Foremarke Hall.

Bombs and Barry
During its career Kinlet Hall covered over 1.3 million miles in both Great Western and British Railways service, operating all over the Great Western network. In 1941, the locomotive nearly came to a sticky end by falling into a bomb crater during an air raid in Plymouth. Despite being extensively damaged, it was repaired and overhauled to continue working until 1964, when it was withdrawn for scrap and sent to the infamous Barry scrapyard in South Wales. No. 4936 languished there for 20 years before being rescued for restoration. It moved to the GWR at Toddington in 1985 where restoration work continued for seven years, before moving to Llangollen and then to Tyseley, where it arrived in 1996.

Restoration was carried out to a very high standard, benefiting from a substantial award from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Steamed for the first time in preservation in 2000, the locomotive went on to make regular appearances on the main line, working from its Tyseley base. This is its first return visit to the GWR.

Caption Competition Result
posted 8th February 2005

The results of January’s Caption Competition have now been posted. The winner entry was submitted by Richard Johnson - well done Richard! Richard is the head of the GWR’s Carriage & Wagon department, and in addition to composing winning competition entries, he also publishes a monthly report on the goings on in C&W. Click here to read his latest!

You can enter this month’s competition by clicking here.

A tale of two Halls
posted 5th February 2005

Tucked inside the David Page shed at Toddington - the large chocolate and cream building in the yard next to the car park - are two ‘Modified Hall’ class locomotives.

One is no. 7903 Foremarke Hall, which has become one of the most popular locomotives on the GWR. It arrived in May 2004 following over 20 years under restoration at the Swindon & Cricklade Railway. Foremarke Hall has quickly become a regular and reliable performer on the line, evoking memories of the days when members of the class regularly worked over the Cheltenham to Stratford route. The engine is now undergoing winter maintenance - its coupling and connecting rods, which developed a distinctive ‘clank’ over the year, have been removed and are currently having the bearings attended to at the Severn Valley Railway’s workshops.

On the opposite side of the shed is classmate no.6984 Owsden Hall, the chassis of which is gradually taking shape, with the frames re-wheeled and slide bars, valve gear and braking being reassembled.

Owsden Hall was completed at Swindon works in 1948 and was first allocated to Hereford. Later shed allocations included Gloucester and Worcester during its relatively short British Railways life, before being withdrawn from Bristol Barrow Road in December 1965. It then spent longer at Barry Scrapyard than in active service, being rescued in 1986. It would have been a regular performer over our line during British Railways days.

The GWR has one further resident Modified Hall - no. 6960 Raveningham Hall. Currently at the Flour Mill workshops at Bream in the Forest of Dean, it is now undergoing a thorough overhaul following complete dismantling. Given that Foremarke Hall is just one year into its 10-year boiler certificate, could it be that all three of these fine locomotives may eventually be seen in steam together on the GWR?

Click here for more information about the difference between Hall & Modified Hall classes.

Site Updates
posted 2nd February 2005

Better late than never, the January desktop wallpaper has now appeared, together with February’s! Once again, many thanks to “Zol” for the excellent pictures.

We have also published Richard Johnson’s regular report from the Carriage & Wagon department. Click here to read it. Remember, if you’re a GWR volunteer who fancies trying your hand at journalism, why not have a go? Just talk to your head of department or me, the Webmaster, to get the ball rolling.

Finally, the Caption Competition will be updated soon, so don’t forget to visit the site again in a few day’s time. Update: 4th February, new competition for February now live, results for January coming soon.

Click here to return to the News Archive.