Kids go free in March!
posted 29th January

If you are aged 5 to 15, why don't you bring with you at least one parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle - or indeed any grown-up?  Provided they buy a full adult or senior citizen ticket, you can travel free on any operating day during March. What a fantastic deal - all the more so because it includes all four days of the Easter weekend!  So this is a treat not to be missed and a great way to start the season. So what's the catch? There isn't one - one child can go free with every round trip adult ticket sold. What's more tickets are valid for as many trips as you can cram in on the day. So, if two
youngsters bring two parents, both youngsters travel free. But if one grown-up comes with three children, well, two children will have to buy a ticket - sorry!  So you can see if ten of you turn up, you'll have to bring ten grown-ups as well!

Click here to see the timetable. There's lots of choice - there's not just steam trains, diesels are running during March too if that's your fancy.

Season to start with three steam locomotives
posted 29th January

The GWR's favourite steam locomotives will be kicking off the 2008 season when the new timetable starts in March. They are the National Railway Museum's centenarian no. 3440 City of Truro (the first engine ever to touch 100mph); the lovely Great Western-designed Modified Hall class 4-6-0 no. 7903 Foremarke Hall (this is the only Modified Hall currently in working order in the UK) and of course, David Shepherd's British Railways 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 Black Prince. In April, two more locomotives arrive: small Prairie no 5542, which stole so many hearts last year, returns for the whole of the season. And a visitor that looked in briefly for the Cotswold Festival of Steam in 2007 liked it so much that it's coming back for a longer spell: Southern West Country class Pacific no. 34007 Wadebridge arrives in April and will stay until early June.

For full timetable details click here.

Railway media delivers!
posted 22nd January

Next time you’re in the shop at Toddington or indeed anywhere that railway magazines are sold, pick up a copy of the current The Railway Magazine.  For inside is a feature by their correspondent Cliff Thomas that includes a wealth of information about our railway along with a truly magnificent double-page photograph of Foremarke Hall emerging from the northern portal of Greet tunnel.

The RM, apart from being the longest-lived railway publication, is also the most widely purchased, according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures. It also has its own website and you can visit it by clicking here.

The online magazine, Railway Herald, also has a couple of fine photographs of our Eastern visitor at large on the GWR including the full back page.  Photographed during a recent freight photo-charter during magnificent weather a couple of weekends ago, the pictures are perhaps evocative of when a similar locomotive,  a class J25, was allocated to Cheltenham Malvern Road for a time when the GWR was desperately short of its own 0-6-0 tender locomotives. Most of the GWR’s Dean Goods class locomotives were assisting with the post-war effort in Europe so the GWR had to borrow some locomotives from elsewhere. The J25 is known to have worked freight trains over our line to Honeybourne and perhaps beyond, maybe with half a dozen or so mixed freight wagons as the pictures illustrate!

You can see Railway Herald by clicking here where you can sign up to their alerts.  The magazine is weekly and contains a wealth of information on current railway practice as well news on the heritage sector and historic stories.

Diesel driving experience update
posted 14th January

Places are rapidly running out for the GWR’s diesel driving experience days. Click here for details and to see which dates are still available.

Latest P-way department update
posted 14th January

Click here for the latest p-way department update.

Carriage and wagon department report
posted 5th January

Click here for the first C&W report of 2008 from Richard Johnson.

2007 – where did it go?
posted 5th January

It seems only yesterday that I was penning a similar article for this website to mark the highlights of the 2006 season. But now the last few hours of the 2007 season have ebbed away and Modified Hall class no. 7903 has cooled after running the last steam services while the very last public train service arrived back at Toddington behind class 47 diesel no. 47105.

Christmas was by any measure highly successful: Santa Claus met more youngsters (and the young at heart) in his special coach at Winchcombe than ever; we’ve seen thousands of happy faces at the diesel running day on 27th December and the Christmas Cracker steam extravaganza on the 29th and 30th. During the year, we’ve hosted an interesting range of visiting locomotives (both steam and diesel) and, subject to final audit, it looks as if 2007 has been a record year both in terms of visitor numbers and income. What a way to end the year.

2007 will be remembered for perhaps both the highest and lowest points in the preservation history of our railway.  For me, the highest point was turning out two National Railway Museum locomotives – Green Arrow and City of Truro – at the same time.  And the lowest? The loss of several days’ operation in the aftermath of the July floods – a time which should have been near the height of the summer season.

Click here for Ian Crowder’s reminder of some of the events that characterised a truly great year!

2007 - a record year
posted 5th January

The volunteer staff on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway are celebrating their best-ever season.  The year ended with 71,118 tickets sold, a 5.6 per cent increase on the 67,327 for the 2006 season which was itself a record.

"This is a marvellous result," comments Colin Dymock, the GWR's head station master. "This is despite the flooding in July which led to loss of six operating days."

Highlights included the Cotswold Festival of Steam, the Santa Specials (for which 7,353 tickets were sold, compared with 6,964 in 2006). The visit of the National Railway Museum's locomotive Green Arrow during the summer also helped to boost visitor numbers.  1,760 people visited the GWR for the Christmas Cracker event - even though Gloucester Rugby Club were thrashing Bristol at a sell-out Kingsholm on the 29th December!  The GWR's diesel galas have also been successful, all seeing increased popularity.

The full breakdown will follow shortly.  Train services resume on 1st March 2008, and you can see the timetable by clicking here. You can also read Ian Crowder's review of the 2007 season by clicking here.