Mystery of the missing water tank
posted 30th January 2007

A news item in the current issue of Heritage Railway magazine suggests that the GWR has acquired an 18,000-gallon capacity water tank that has been installed at Toddington station. But where is it? A tank of that size isn’t something you can easily hide!

It is true that the GWR is negotiating with the Cholsey & Wallingford railway for a tank that is currently in their ownership and which is identical to the imposing structure that once stood at Toddington, on the down (Cheltenham-bound) platform.  But no deal has yet been done and, if and when the tank is acquired, we’ll let you know. But the intention is in due course to replace the missing tank, whether it is the one currently at Wallingford or another – if you happen to have a GWR 18,000 gallon tank in your back garden, let us know!

Toddington station closed in 1960 (along with all other remaining stations south of Honeybourne with the exception of Cheltenham Race course) and the yard closed – 40 years ago this month, on 2nd January 1967. From the end of steam in the mid 1960s, the tank became redundant and was removed after the station and yard had closed and was almost certainly scrapped.

The photograph below, courtesy of the Railway Archiving Trust (photographer unknown) shows Toddington station in the 1950s with the tank in place, behind the down waiting room. Click on the picture to view a full size version.

Visit our chronology for more information on the history of the line.

Chronology updated
posted 27th January 2007

Click here to visit our Chronology – a fascinating snapshot of the history of the Stratford to Cheltenham railway, from the Act of Parliament in 1899 granting the Great Western permission to construct the line, right up to the latest update recording the principal events of 2006. It’s a must for anyone who wants a quick summary of the rise, fall and rebirth of our railway. And if you’re befuddled by some of the terms we use on our railway like ‘frog’ and ‘four-foot’, take a look at our jargon buster: everything you ever wanted to know (but didn’t realise it)!

A look back to 2006 – a year to remember!
posted 27th January 2007

Click here for a News Extra round-up of some of the highlights of last year – the GWR’s most successful year to date.

Contractors dig in at Toddington
posted 26th January 2007

Three weekends of shunting and shifting have seen the yard at Toddington transformed – with new views unseen for a couple of decades opened up. Just about anything moveable has been moved to make way for the first excavations in the £100,000 project to improve the railway’s locomotive management facilities.

After initial removal of rolling stock, a track panel in the main line adjacent to the signal box, along with panels in sidings one, two and three, were removed. This is to allow deep trenches to be dug ready for construction of concrete ducts for services such as clean water disposal, water and electricity supplies.  A massive excavation is also being dug to take a contaminated water and grit separation plant that meets stringent environmental waste management standards.

This first stage is due to be completed in time for opening the railway for the 2007 season on 3rd March.  Then follows the serious work of constructing two new pits outside the David Page shed. These will incorporate full lighting and drainage, allowing contaminated water from boiler washouts for example, to be taken to the new treatment plant for separation.

We will shortly be publishing a plan of all of the proposed works which ultimately will see:
*  pit installed and concreting of the floor of the David Page shed
* extension of the shed itself
* a new diesel depot to replace the current ‘Dowty’ iron steam shed
* extension of the former goods shed to expand the engineering and machine shop and provide department staff facilities, including showers. 

Meanwhile, the pictures below show a little of the progress to date.

The locomotive department’s Mark Young and Andrew Meredith have been leading this major project, which received Board approval last year.  They point out however, that the yard is strictly out of bounds to visitors.  Mark says: “There are some very deep excavations in the yard and no-one should be there unless they are authorised and for good reason and staff must stick to the authorised walk ways.”

Ultimately, though, the plan is to provide safe access for visitors to view locomotives in the yard.

Excavation and construction work will continue through to August.

1. 2. 3.

1 - The boiler of Standard class 4 2-6-0 no. 76077 being loaded on to a well wagon for removal from the yard, on 13th January (Mark Young)
2 - Rail and sleepers being removed on 20th January from the main line adjacent to Toddington signal box, ready for the trench to be dug (Ian Crowder)
3 - Rare view on 20th January of Toddington signal box, taken from the footplate of GW 2-8-0 no. 2807, before it was shunted in to the David Page shed.  Sidings, normally filled with rolling stock, have been removed, making this view possible (Ian Crowder)

King George going nowhere - for now
posted 22nd January 2007

The only steam locomotive owned by the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway - red Hunslet saddle tank no. 2409 King George - sadly is going nowhere this year, after the boiler inspector told the GWR that the firetubes in the boiler need replacing. The bad news was delivered last week, when the locomotive was being examined for renewal of its annual boiler certificate.  The decision has been taken to withdraw the locomotive with immediate effect and undertake a full overhaul. 
 
The engine last steamed during the Christmas Cracker event in December, when its appearance won many complimentary comments following its return from a two-year stay at the East Anglian Railway Museum.
 
GWR locomotive superintendent Mike Hoskin says: "This is disappointing news. The tubes, which have been in the boiler for over eight years, are evidently thin at the smokebox end and the boiler inspector wants them replaced.  But on the positive side, he was complimentary about the general condition of King George's boiler so we're hopeful that when it is lifted from the engine, the tubes taken out and a full inspection carried out, little more than a re-tube will be needed.  The engine should then be fit for another term of up to 10 years."
 
Only about 18 months remain on the current boiler certificate so a straightforward re-tube is not a practical or economic proposition when there is so little time left on the engine's 'ticket'.  The new tubes would have to be removed again (and once removed they cannot be reused) when the current 10 year boiler certificate expires.
 
Agreements were being lined up for hire of the engine to the Dean Forest Railway, the Great Central (Ruddington) and the Cholsey & Wallingford Railway during the current year and we apologise to all three that King George has had to be withdrawn.

The numbers game: how was it last year?
posted 22nd January 2007

As previously commented, 2006 was a record year for the GWR – total train ticket sales amounting to 67,327 – an increase of 5.8 per cent compared with 2005.

That’s great news for your railway – but in many ways, it was a mixed year.  The marvellous figure was boosted by just over 9,000 tickets sold during the superb Centenary Festival and a remarkable 2,061 on the impromptu ‘Centenary Christmas Cracker’ on 30th and 31st December.  Because of the Centenary Festival, June and July saw our highest cumulative figures – in June, we were over 4,000 ticket sales ahead at the same point the previous year.

On the negative side, numbers were affected by occasional extremes of weather, for example during one of the ‘Days Out with Thomas’ events. Numbers were also lower than expected during the football World Cup – one crucial match happening on a Thomas day.  Many a youngster must have much preferred to have enjoyed the race between Bertie and Thomas than stay at home while Dad watched the footie!

The bar chart below tells the story. Each year is measured against 2003, the year we opened to Cheltenham when ticket sales leaped by 25 per cent compared with 2002. Since then, we have increased ticket sales year on year, with the exception of 2005 – and this is a remarkable testament for an all-volunteer enterprise.  It means that much more of our income can be directly reinvested in development of the railway.
 

Click on the graph below to see a full sized version.


* Note: December’s figure includes the one or two days we have run in January the following year

Cumulative totals:
2003 – 64,145
2004 – 66,411
2005 – 63,606
2006 – 67,327

So what are the highlights over the past four years?

Well, April 2003 set the bar with sales of 11,769 tickets, a figure only exceed in August the same year with 12,257 tickets sold: an all-time record month for the railway.  During 2006, the railway enjoyed its best ever May (8,277) and June (9,254) both attributed to the Centenary Festival.  December’s 10,715 included the Christmas Cracker gala, but the pre-Christmas period is always successful because of the Santa Specials.  However, the first weekend of December was a little quiet in 2006 which contributed to fewer Santa tickets sold (6,964) compared with the previous year’s 7,186.

Here’s to a great 2007!  Can we reach the magic 70,000 this year?  Now that’s the challenge for our marketing team!

15 locomotives, 14,600 miles!
posted 22nd January 2007

Yet more records tumble on the GWR.  Last year, steam locomotives on the GWR amassed a total of 14,632 miles over our ten-mile line, on 278 steam days.

Honours go to no. 7903 Foremarke Hall for the second year running. It clocked up over 4,300 miles, although David Shepherd’s 9F Black Prince achieved the same number of days in steam, both engines ending the season with 76 days to their credit.

Third place in both number of days in steam and miles on the clock went to visiting Merchant Navy pacific no. 35005 Canadian Pacific, although the engine spend a few weeks at the Great Central during this period.  We’re grateful to the Mid-Hants Railway for kindly loaning the locomotive to us.  A feast for Southern fans!

During the year, though, the GWR hosted no fewer than 15 locomotives, offering remarkable variety for regular visitors to the line.  Perhaps the most extraordinary ordinary service day was the weekend of 24th September – when services were handled by two short-term visitors, pannier tank no. 4612 from the Bodmin & Wenford Railway and 48305 from the Great Central.

However, during this Centenary year of the original opening of the railway and 25th anniversary year of the effort to restore it, two steam events took place: the Centenary Festival in May/June when eight locomotives were in steam and the Christmas Cracker when six were turned out.

So here’s the low-down:

Locomotive Miles (2005) Days (2005) Notes 7903 Foremarke Hall 4,337 (4,062) 76 (73)   92203 Black Prince 4,075 (3,307) 76 (57) Includes 478 miles over 7 steam days at West Somerset Railway and 2 steam days in static steam at the NRM, Shildon 35005 Canadian Pacific 2,462 (248) 45(4) Includes 887 miles over 15 steam days at GCR. On loan from Mid-Hants Railway 3440 City of Truro 931 (472) 20 (7) Spent most of the year visiting other lines 4936 Kinlet Hall 609 (2,205) 10 (39) Left the GWR in May 92212 559 9 Visited from Mid-Hants for Centenary Festival 5542 497 10 Visited from South Devon Railway for Centenary Festival 5051 Earl Bathurst 417 8 Visited from Didcot for Centenary Festival 1450 379 10 Visited from Dean Forest for Centenary Festival 4160 434 11 Currently resident from South Devon Railway 4141 281 6 Visited from GCR for Centenary Festival 48305 247 4 Visited from GCR in exchange for 35005 4612 147 2 Visited from Bodmin & Wensford while 92203 was away 47268 (aka Thomas) 108 (96) 4 (4)   2409 King George 36 (0) 2 (0) Spent second year at East Anglian Railway Museum, returned for Christmas Cracker gala in December   14,632 (13,509) 278 (231)

Notes: Figures are for the 2006 season which ended on 2nd January 2007 (2005 figures in brackets). A ‘steam day’ is a day when the locomotive is in steam and working trains. On a typical day, a locomotive undertakes a little over 60 miles making three return trips to Cheltenham.  92203 achieved a lower mileage than 7903 because it ran Santa Specials throughout December entailing only two return trips from Toddington to Winchcombe, a total of just over 12 miles.

Sky Sports videos
posted 22nd January 2007

The videos of the Sky Sports trailers which were filmed mainly at the GWR proved so popular that the website exceeded it’s bandwidth limit and was down for a while! Now, they are back this time hosted on YouTube, the links are below

Shorter version
Longer version

Owsden Hall progress update
posted 14th January 2007

Trevor Westbury has kindly provided an update on the work being carried out on Owsden Hall. Click here to read the report.

P&O progress report
posted 11th January 2007

John McMillan’s latest progress report on the restoration of 35006 can he read here.

Delivering the goods
posted 10th January 2007

A Prairie tank locomotive rumbles through Toddington station with an evening mixed goods train for Honeybourne Junction in the mid-1960s. Behind the commendably-clean '5101' class 2-6-2T no 4160 is variety of wagons but of interest is the 'Conflat' immediately behind the engine carrying a container, bearing the new 'door-to-door' logo....
 
Such a train would have attracted little more than a passing glance from the average passenger waiting on the platform, but it's a scene long since consigned to memory.  But on the damp evening of 5th January, the local freight was recreated in a photo carter and Paul Stratford, a member of the GWR's locomotive department, captured these evocative pictures for us all to enjoy.

Thanks must go to the 4160 owning group for requesting the shoot, Mike Wathen and Ian Boskett for the organisation, and finally for the crew, Neil Carr and Derek Smith.

A new year for the GWR
posted 5th January 2007

Well, a very happy New Year to all of our visitors. We ended 2006 on a high note with the spectacular Christmas Cracker event, which attracted over 2,000 fare-paying passengers to witness flat-out action from six steam locomotives. Now the last passenger train of the season has run and we are in the two-month season of maintenance and repairs.

Work is starting immediately on installing two new pits outside the David Page shed and improving the locomotive maintenance facilities. This involves track lifting to lay essential services, including drainage to the latest environmental standards, as well as constructing the pits themselves. We’ll be telling you the full story very soon and, of course, you will be the first to find out what’s going on as we follow progress on Latest News! This is a real team effort between locomotive and permanent way departments.

At Winchcombe ‘comfort breaks’ will be much more comfortable thanks to the brand new facilities – a much needed development that building department is now completing. The new construction of the toilet block on Platform 1 uses materials that closely match the former Monmouth Troy station building – and doubtless it will be a facility much appreciated by staff and visitors alike.

At Cheltenham, the signalling will be fully up and running following its recent final inspection. Approval by HM Railway Inspectorate is expected shortly – and it can’t come a moment too soon for the Signal and Telegraph department, who were faced with ‘moving goalposts’ in terms of safety requirements which delayed completion of the project. Work is now expected to start on the Gotherington signalling project.

On the locomotive front, SR Merchant Navy pacific Canadian Pacific is returning to its new owner, the Mid-Hants Railway, which has purchased the engine from ‘Steam Dreams’ operator Marcus Robertson. GW Prairie no 4160, which performed so well on the Santa Specials and at the recent Christmas Cracker event, remains at Toddington until March. Modified Hall Foremarke Hall is undergoing extensive winter maintenance while our very own Hunslet 0-6-0ST King George is being inspected before setting off on its travels once again, earning a useful income before its next overhaul in 2009.

Early in March visitors USATC 2-8-0 no. 5197 and GW ‘small Prairie’ no. 5542 will arrive for the 2007 season, providing the railway with a core fleet of four working steam locomotives.  Naturally, there will be other visitors during the year – especially for the big summer event between 31st May and 3rd June.

So what of the Broadway extension? Well, as during the winter break last year, the permanent way department will be fully occupied undertaking maintenance work on the ‘main line’. There are thousands of fishplates to grease; dipped joints to attend to; new points to go in at Winchcombe … and a hundred other tasks as well to ensure the line is in tip-top condition for the new season. 

You can see there are lots of jobs to do. And if you have just an inkling of interest, why don’t you join us? Becoming a member will entitle you to become a volunteer and play your own part in growing your railway. What can you do? Well, click here to find out!

The 2007 timetable is also now online and you can take a look by clicking here. If you would like a copy of the new 2007 timetable and brochure, which includes an impressive fold-out map of the line, please send a stamped self-addressed DL envelope to: 2007 Timetable, The Railway Station, Toddington, Gloucestershire GL54 5DT
 

What a wet, wonderful end to 2006!
posted 5th January 2007

The GWR’s impromptu Centenary Christmas Cracker was always going to be a risk so far as the weather was concerned. Would it be bright and clear? Could there be snow, even? And if it rained, would anyone turn up?

Well, no-one needs reminding that 2006 went out with an angry meteorological blast that flooded roads, brought down power lines and even took the roof off a property in south Gloucestershire. But none of that seemed to put off people prepared to brave the elements to get a final fix of steam to see out the old year.

Six locomotives were in steam with a good mixture of trains to Cheltenham, (some double -headed) and local and freight workings to Winchcombe. And despite the weather there were some excellent, moody photographs to be had – as you can see below! Winchcombe station resembled a London suburban commuter station at times and many trains were packed to standing. As the Cheltenham station master commented: “It’s nice to be able to say ‘standing room only’ but no-one seemed to mind!”

Both the Flag & Whistle at Toddington and On Train Catering pretty much ran out food over the weekend. OTC’s Hilary Summers said that extra stock had to be brought in while on Sunday, the bacon rolls sold in the RBr went in no time.

Garry Owen, Chairman of GWSR Plc, commented on the fantastic atmosphere at the railway over the weekend. “Everyone pulled out the stops to make this a memorable occasion. There was a real party atmosphere and it really did put the icing on a great year that marked both our 25th anniversary as a heritage railway and the centenary of the line first opening,” he said.

“I applaud all of our volunteers for making it happen – and I applaud all of our visitors who braved the elements and helped to make it such a success.”

The event was a magnificent effort from all volunteers who really went the extra mile to make it a memorable event. A lot of people went home tired, wet – but pleased with a job well done.

So how do the numbers stack up?

* Over the Christmas Cracker weekend 2,061 tickets were sold
* On Train Catering took over £1,000 on both days
* The total passenger count for 2006 is 67,327 – a record year for the GWR.  This is a 5.8 per cent increase over last year.

A commentary on the railway’s performance over the year will follow soon.

Did you take pictures? If so, please share them with us and Send them to our galleries editor, Darin Fryatt, using the address gallery (@ gwsr.com of course).  But for a preview, here is a small selection – click on the thumbnails for the bigger picture!
 

The first picture is from Matt Allen (http://www.mattallenphoto.co.uk) the remaining three from Darin Fryatt.

Click here to return to the News Archive.