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Hot air and the GWR (posted 18th May 2004) With steam engines there’s no shortage of hot air on the GWR - but there will be even more over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend, 30th and 31st of May, when the first Cheltenham Hot Air Balloon Festival takes place at Cheltenham Racecourse.
The Festival promises to be a magical and spectacular event. Apart from dozens of balloons of all different shapes, sizes and colours, including one in the shape of a jumbo jet flying through a cloud, events include an en-masse balloon launch; a musical ‘night glow’ with dozens of tethered balloons lit up like giant Christmas tree light bulbs as well as well as a funfair, kite show, music and lots of other attractions. Although parking at the Racecourse is free, entry to the event is £2.00. This means that those intending to travel on the GWR from Cheltenham Race Course station will have to pay the entrance fee but a refund arrangement will be in place. Of course, traffic to and from the Festival is expected to be heavy - so why not travel in style by steam train from Toddington or Winchcombe stations? Trains suitable for spending time at the Festival are printed in bold and depart: From Toddington at 10.20, 11.30, 12.40, 13.50, 15.00 and 16.10 Trains back to Winchcombe and Toddington during the afternoon printed in bold depart: For the full train timetable, click here. You can find out more and view a gallery of pictures taken by BBC Radio Gloucestershire at a recent press launch for the event by clicking the link below. The pictures include views above the GWR’s Race Course station. http://db.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/festivals/2004/05/cheltenham_balloon_festival.shtml If you plan to visit the Balloon Festival you can obtain a leaflet and further information from your nearest Tourist Information Centre. The Cheltenham office is: Cheltenham Tourist Information Centre Links correct at time of publication. GWSR plc accepts no responsibility for the content or availability of external sites.
City of Truro arrives - again! (posted 14th May 2004) As predicted in our last news item, the National Railway Museum's record-breaking engine no. 3440 City of Truro has once again arrived at Toddington and is expected to operate trains this weekend and the next. However, it is pointing north - chimney towards Toddington - as it was during its spell on the line in April. GWR staff were expecting it to arrive pointing south this time, providing a fresh perspective for photographers. However, with the arrangements for loading on to Heanor's road transporter at Bristol it was only possible to receive it pointing in the northbound direction. City of Truro will leave the line for Railfest (click here for information) at York on 25th May. It is expected to return to the GWR again during the early part of 2005.
City of Truro returns in triumph (posted 12th May 2004) ‘City’ class no. 3440 City of Truro - which departed from the GWR at the end if April for its main-line commitments - returns this week for two further weekends’ service on the ‘friendly line in the Cotswolds’. Those who travelled on the Steam Railway magazine-sponsored runs from Bristol to Paignton on Saturday 8th May and return on Monday 10th May, enjoyed exhilarating runs which have been branded a real triumph for the National Railway Museum’s 1903-built 4-4-0. The runs took place to mark the 100th anniversary of the engine’s run on 9 May 1904 with a Plymouth to Paddington ‘ocean mail’ train to London, when it was said to have reached just over 102mph down the 1-in-80 gradient at Whiteball in Somerset. It was not possible to run over this same stretch of line on the actual day because of an engineering possession that could not be re-scheduled. Tony Streeter, Editor of Steam Railway, told gwsr.com that he has no doubt that the plucky little ‘City’ class locomotive was capable of such an achievement. “Although we were restricted to 60mph, the acceleration of the engine was remarkable and it was clear it just wanted to go,” he says. On the outward run there was some speculation about how the engine would perform up Whiteball’s ferocious gradient with its load of seven Mk 1 coaches from a 20mph restriction right at the foot. “Its performance was absolutely top drawer - the engine seemed to romp away, accelerating its load to 28mph by the time it reached the summit - it was a truly astounding climb,” Tony says. The train arrived three minutes early at Paignton. Two days later, no. 3440 returned to Bristol with another spine-tingling performance. “We topped Whiteball in the opposite direction at 30 mph and simply flew down the other side,” comments Tony about the very stretch of line where the engine is reputed to have knocked ‘the ton’ for six for the first time ever. “We had to brake for a 50mph speed restriction at the foot of the bank,” he said. “Whether City of Truro actually did achieve 100mph a century ago I suppose we’ll never know for certain. But there’s no doubt in my mind at all that it was certainly capable of it.” Arrival at Bristol was seven minutes ahead of schedule. Of course, City of Truro will not be doing anything like those speeds on the GWR. But even at 25mph, it’s easy to imagine the excitement of that reputed 100mph run over a century ago – and the excitement of the centenary runs that have just taken place. And for a standard fare of just £9.00 (adult) on the GWR for as many trips as you can manage on the day, you can enjoy City of Truro’s grace and elegance for yourself. Check our locomotive roster for the trains City of Truro will be handling over the weekends of 15/16th and 22/23rd May. The engine will be delivered pointing south - chimney-first from Toddington - this time, providing a different perspective for photographers (during its first visit it was pointing north). Watch this space for further news!
Celebration success (posted 12th May 2004) A full car park is a good indicator that an event is going well and that was certainly true of the GWR’s ‘Celebration of Swindon Steam’ over the weekend of 7th, 8th and 9th May. Indeed, by 9am on the Saturday and Sunday, Toddington station car park was pretty much full - and we apologise to those who simply couldn’t find a parking space. Unfortunately, the heavy rain that has soaked the Cotswolds over the past couple of weeks (and gave more of the same on Saturday and Sunday) had rendered our overflow parking field waterlogged. However, there was space at Cheltenham Race Course and Winchcombe stations. None of this, though, spoiled the performance of the five Swindon-built locomotives which ran faultlessly over the weekend. Friday saw the first revenue-earning run for no. 7903 Foremarke Hall, which had arrived at Toddington only three days earlier. The locomotive took its first test runs the previous day and the members of the owning group, Foremarke Hall Transport Trust, were delighted with the performance of their fine 1949-built locomotive. Sharing services were ‘large Prairie’ no 5199 from Llangollen and handling a freight between Toddington and Winchcombe was Pete Waterman’s 2-8-0 tank no. 5224. As all three appeared in early British Railways livery, there was more than a 1950’s feel to the day - especially with the line’s ‘blood and custard’ coaches in evidence. On Saturday and Sunday, Didcot’s fine 2-8-0 no 3822 and resident 24xx class 2-8-0 tank no 4247 (built in 1919, the oldest locomotive at the event) joined the fray. Both in GWR livery, the former in black and the latter in green, there was plenty to see. 3822 shared the ‘main line’ duties to Cheltenham with 7903 and 5199, locomotive changes taking place at Toddington while the tank locomotives operated a mixture of freight and ‘local’ passenger services from Winchcombe to Toddington. Thanks to an 05.00 start for some locomotive department staff, Foremarke Hall handled a 09.10 departure from Toddington on Saturday and Sunday and on both days, the trains were very well filled. Billed as non-stop runs, unfortunately the Saturday turn fell foul of a late-running light-engine returning from a permanent-way working to Cheltenham and was held for five minutes at Winchcombe’s outer home – a disappointment for passengers and crew. Nevertheless, once given the road, Foremarke Hall raised the local rooftops as it stormed in impressive style up the gradient through Winchcombe station and into Greet tunnel. What did you think? Would you like to see more of the same? What should we do during the Autumn gala on September the 11th and 12th? Why don’t you tell us - you can use our new feedback facility (click here) to tell us (and everyone else) your thoughts. And we would welcome any pictures you have taken for our gallery. Please provide a short caption and, of course, your name and we’ll give you a credit. We now have over 100 pictures on the galleries and they’re growing all the time. We’ll start a ‘Celebration of Swindon Steam’ gallery and, with your help, we’ll have a cracking display of great pictures from the weekend! Please send your photos to webmaster (at gwsr.com of course). Please send the photos at the largest size you can - our webmaster has a big mailbox!
Photo galleries updated (posted 9th May 2004)
Remember, we have (perhaps uniquely within the heritage railway movement) two versions of our galleries, to cater for both dial-up modem and broadband users - although there’s nothing stopping the modem users viewing the broadband images, if they’re patient! You can visit our galleries here.
Foremarke Hall arrival hailed a success (posted 6th May 2004) A spectacular hailstorm failed to spoil the successful arrival at Toddington of 'Modified Hall' class no. 7903 Foremarke Hall on Tuesday. With hailstones bouncing off the pristine paintwork, the engine was gently winched onto the GWR's track and a 'cold' inspection carried out. The following day, the engine's tender arrived from Bristol following reprofiling of its tender wheels and reunited with the locomotive. A warming fire was lit in the firebox and today (Friday) the locomotive was steam tested and made its first trips out on the GWR's main line to Cheltenham Race Course. At the time of writing (mid afternoon), it was running satisfactorily and it is expected to participate in the railway's 'A Celebration of Swindon Steam' on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. To see which trains will be hauled by Foremarke Hall over the next three days, click here.
5199 arrives (posted 3rd May 2004) Elegant ‘large Prairie’ tank locomotive no. 5199 arrived at Toddington last week from the Llangollen Railway. Following ‘cold’ and ‘in steam’ checks on Friday, it went straight into service on GWR trains on Saturday 1 May. Our picture, taken by visitor Steven Chaplin (who enjoyed a diesel driver experience course on that day) shows 5199 standing in the rain at Toddington prior to taking the 11:30 departure for Cheltenham.
Initially withdrawn in 1962, 5199 found itself in store at Gloucester while en-route for scrapping in south Wales. But during the severe 1962 / 63 winter when many of the new diesels failed, the engine was put back into service largely for carriage warming. It remained at Gloucester almost to the end of steam on the Western Region when it was moved to Woodham’s scrap yard at Barry. 5199 was bought for restoration in 1985 and initially moved to Toddington. It later moved to Llangollen where restoration was completed, the engine being steamed for the first time again early last year. This is the first time 5199 has visited another heritage railway and it is expected to remain at Toddington for four weeks. However, it’s already a hit with the GWR - crews who have worked on it already have found it to be exceptionally smooth and a real pleasure to drive and fire. Even passengers have been saying what a smooth ride it is in the train! So if you’d like to enjoy seeing and riding behind 5199 – visit us soon!
Celebration of Swindon Steam - 7th, 8th and 9th of May (posted 2nd May 2004) The GWR’s ‘Celebration of Swindon Steam’ promises to be a first-class weekend of railway atmosphere with an opportunity to travel behind five Swindon-built products of the Great Western Railway. The locomotives range in age from 1919 to 1949. Three locomotives will be running on Friday, including two newcomers, ‘Prairie’ tank locomotive no . 5199 visiting from the Llangollen Railway and ‘Modified Hall’ class 4-6-0 no. 7903 Foremarke Hall. The engines running over the weekend are, in order of age:
Click here to see our working timetable* (this is a PDF file) so you can decide which trains you want to travel on, and which just to enjoy watching! Hint: Winchcombe will be a great place to watch the trains as there will be frequent locomotive changes here and opportunities to visit the footplate. *All trains and times and locomotives subject to change and availability. |
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The festival is the first Grand Prix Competition
Ballooning event of the year and will be a tribute to world champion balloonist David Bareford who, later this year, will be defending his title in Australia. Also competing will be former UK champion Richard Parry, who lives
near Stroud. He and other competitors will be seeking to qualify for the world championships.
Have you visited our photo-galleries recently? They’re being
added to all the time, thanks largely to the generous contributions we’re receiving from the visitors to this website. Today we passed the “ton”, with 114 images in total, including the “hot off the presses” image of Foremarke
Hall shown here, hauling its first passenger train on the GWR.
5199 was built in 1935 at Swindon to a
design first introduced thirty years earlier. Production continued in batches right through to 1949, after the Great Western had been absorbed by British Railways. 290 of these attractive tank engines were built. Their fast
acceleration and speed made them ideal for suburban and country passenger work and they could be found all over the Great Western Railway’s network. 5199, now owned by the Llangollen-based ‘5199 Project’, spent most
of its life working local commuter trains in the Midlands, until displaced by diesel multiple units.| <Home> <About GWR> <Travelling> <Supporting Us> <Ownership> <Development> <Enthusiasts> <Contact Us> <Links> |