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Toddington Junction Junction? What junction? Well, regular visitors may have noticed track that runs from the yard, through a gate and ends at a concrete pad in the car park. That is the line from Toddington – well, to the rest of the world! This ‘branch line’ sees quite regular use, too. Because the GWR is not physically connected to the national network, every piece of rolling stock, every carriage and every wagon must come in or go out on the back of a road vehicle. If the train departing is in the shape of a steam locomotive, like the Mid-Hants Railway’s ‘Merchant Navy’ class pacific, you’re talking about 150 tons all-up. Not exactly the kind of delivery you send by Fed Ex! For example, Tuesday 20th September was a busy day for our ‘branch line’ As Neil Carr, a member of the locomotive department, puts it: “It’s beep all go! “First, Andrew Goodman’s pannier tank, no 9642, arrived from Swindon following its visit to STEAM, the museum at the former railway works, where it was exhibited as part of a weekend organised by Steam Railway magazine. “Then straight on to that lorry, no. 7903, Foremarke Hall, minus its tender, was loaded for the journey to the Severn Valley Railway, where the engine was taking part in that line’s 40th anniversary celebrations. Next away was the tender of Merchant Navy no 35005 Canadian Pacific, then Canadian Pacific itself. Finally, a lorry returned to collect Foremarke Hall’s tender.” Exhausting stuff – in all, five movements. He adds, “so we’re fully passed out at building ramps so these engines and tenders can be rolled on and off their transporters!” “Fortunately, the weather was fine and great for photography, as these two pictures show,” says Neil. “Shame it wasn’t like that at our Gala, but that’s the English weather for you! David Shepherd’s 9F 2-10-0 set off shortly afterwards, to take part in the Mid Hants Railway’s gala, but don’t worry, all our resident locos will be arriving back soon. The first picture shows 35005 Canadian Pacific on the trailer. The second picture shows 7903 Foremarke Hall being loaded.
Echoes of the past at GWR diesel gala The GWR’s Autumn Diesel Gala presents a wide range of classes and operational variety this weekend, 24th and 25th September. A challenging timetable will bring back not-too -distant memories of loco-hauled freight and passenger services and of course, nostalgia by the tank full. Every diesel locomotive available will be working and highlights include opposite power extremes: visiting Load Haul-liveried class 56 no 56003 (the only Romanian-built example of the class in preservation), which develops 2,400 hp and SR class 73 electro-diesel no 73129 which, when not drawing power from the third rail, develops just 600 hp. There will be plenty of double-headed running with a range of locomotive combinations, while an intensive service of local freight and passenger trains will operate between Toddington and Winchcombe. On 12:10 on Saturday, newly-outshopped ‘triple-grey’ Freightliner class 47, no 47376, will be renamed ‘Freightliner 1995’ (see preceding news item). Normal fares apply, offering one of the country’s best-value diesel events. Lineside passes are also available from Toddington booking office – please wear a high visibility jacket while on the lineside; please don’t put yourself or others in danger and please note that Greet Tunnel is strictly out of bounds. You can download, for free, the working timetable here. This is a printable PDF document. You can find out more about the unique class 73 Electro Diesels in a news extra here.
Shades of grey A sight for sore eyes: a freshly-outshopped Freightliner ‘triple-grey’ liveried class 47 [sorry we don’t have a picture to illustrate this article] Ten years ago, class 47 no 47376 emerged as the flagship locomotive in the brand new Freightliner corporate colours and was named Freightliner 1995 at Crewe. This marked separation of Freightliner as a separate business from British Rail and another step in the privatisation process. Freightliner has been one of the network’s success stories and it now operates a fleet of American built class 66’s, in a new green corporate image – so the ageing Freightliner class 47’s will soon be history. 47376, owned by the Brush Type 4 fund (the class name when first introduced in 1962) has just emerged from Winchcombe Carriage and Wagon. Sporting its brand new coat of three greys, it will once again proudly carry its nameplate “Freightliner 1995” following renaming this weekend. The naming ceremony takes place at 12:10 at Toddington station, in the presence of former Freightliner staff. But the gleaming paintwork hides literally thousands of hours of pure graft in repairs and preparation – never mind over £2,000 worth of paint, filler, hundreds of sanding pads and five orbital sanders – only one of which remains in working order! An earlier news item (19th August) on these pages included a photograph of the locomotive at Winchcombe, wearing a interesting shade of dull green undercoat and no identification. You can find out more about the history of 47376, and others in its class, in a newly added News Extra item. Click here to read it.
Site Updates Following the recent visit by its stablemate, 35005, the latest progress report on 35006 “P & O” is now available. Click here to read it. On a related note, we have some new additions to our Video Gallery. Mike Snow has produced an excellent clip of 35005 Canadian Pacific in action at the recent steam gala - watch out for the obliging whistle at the end! Also, as a taster for the Diesel Gala this coming weekend, by popular request Mike has captured some footage of electro-diesel number 73129. This is our first diesel video clip, and if it proves popular I’m sure it will be the first of many. The recent site move has doubled our available bandwidth, but please respect our allowance by downloading our videos once only, and storing them on your hard disk.
Moving home - part 2 The GWR website has moved home. Most parts of the site are working correctly, although we apologise for the lack of loco rostering information. We hope to reinstate this as soon as possible. The site still requires further live testing. During this difficult process, we may not be able to respond to your email or other online enquiries as efficiently as normal. If you do not receive a response, please bear with us, and if necessary resubmit your enquiry in a few days. Normal telephone and postal methods of enquiry are unaffected. The Waiting Room volunteers-only forum has now reopened.
Diesel Gala working timetable The working timetable for the September Diesel Gala (on the 24th and 25th of September) is now available. Click here to download the Working Timetable. Please remember this is subject to change without notice.
Missed Canpac? Here's another chance... Despite weather that contrived to test the resilience and ability of photographers to the limit, the GWR's gala was pretty successful with star attraction Canadian Pacific, the Mid-Hants Railway's Merchant Navy pacific. This picture sums it all up - our intrepid Darin braved the rain to capture 35005 emerging from the gloom of Greet tunnel.
Canadian Pacific remains on the GWR for a few more days - and will be in action over the coming weekend, both on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, participants on the steam fire & drive course really will have something to remember, as the Merchant Navy is filling that turn as well, before returning to the Mid Hants 'Watercress' line for their gala between 16th and 18th September, the weekend of the GWR's diesel gala. Meanwhile, David Shepherd's 9F will also be visiting the Mid Hants Railway, leaving later this week, thus completing the arrangement with the MHR that could see similar 'locomotive exchanges' in the future. So if you missed the Merchant last weekend - or want to have another try at getting a decent photograph or two of the first visit by a working Merchant Navy, pay a visit to the GWR - the friendly line in the Cotswolds! Click here for our updated loco roster. Click here for a News Extra on the Merchant Navy pacifics.
Moving home This week, GWSR.com is moving home. That is, it is moving to a new “ISP”, who will provide better support and more capacity. We hope this process will be completely seamless, but it is quite a complex activity for a site as large as this one. It is likely that some parts of the website will disappear for short periods of time, so please bear with us during this difficult procedure.
Gala working timetables up! You can download our working timetables for free for the steam gala this weekend. The weekend really is action packed, featuring visiting Merchant Navy 35005 Canadian Pacific, visiting 4936 Kinlet Hall, 92203 Black Prince and 7903 Foremarke Hall. Possibly this is the first GWR Gala with all locomotives operating being named! Features include:
To download the working timetables click here. Note that there are two pages - one for Saturday and one for Sunday. If you are visiting, there is plenty of free car parking at Cheltenham and at Toddington, where parking will be in the field adjacent to platform 2 - follow the signs. If you are linesiding please ensure you are in possession of a lineside pass (available from Toddington booking office) and wear a hi-vis jacket at all times. Please do not under any circumstances enter Greet tunnel. See other news items below about the Gala, about Canadian Pacific and links to a News Extra feature on the Merchant Navy class.
Merchant Navy visit The arrival this week of SR Merchant navy class 35005 Canadian Pacific is already causing excitement - it is the first visit to the GWR by a member of this class, apart from our own 35006 undergoing restoration in the David Page shed at Toddington. The Merchant Navy locomotives were extraordinary machines - when they first appeared in 1941 they were hailed as a sensation, especially during the austerity of wartime Britain. Not only did they look unlike any other locomotive, the sleek, air-smoothed casing hid a host of innovative features never tried before. During the 1950s all were rebuilt to more conventional appearance and this is the guise of visiting 35005 and under-restoration 35006. Nevertheless, it remains amongst the elite British express locomotives boasting 'class 8' power. We're grateful to the Mid Hants Railway and owner Marcus Robertson of 'Steam Dreams' for agreeing to Candian Pacific's visit. As a matter of interest, the Mid Hants Railway helped the GWR volunteers build the brand new tender for 35006, as well as the cab and some components for the 'P & O' project. You can find out more about the Merchant Navy class, including a picture of one of the class in original form in News Extra. You can visit the Mid Hants Railway's website by clicking here. Click here to visit Steam Dreams website - which includes some photos of 35005 in action on the main line. Click here for more information about the P & O group's restoration of 35006.
Stop press: 'Canadian Pacific' for GWR gala
Appearance of Canadian Pacific provides a taste of things to come for the GWR as classmate no. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S N Co. is currently being restored in the David Page shed at Toddington. The working timetable will be revised and locomotive numbers added shortly.
Santa Specials booking information now available Full information and a booking form for our very popular Santa Specials are now available. Click here for full details.
Steam Firing & Driving Courses - selling out fast We’ve received a good response to our recently relaunched Steam Firing & Driving courses, but we still have a few places available. Please contact the organiser for further details (contact information is available on the Steam F &D page).
Caption Competition results The August Caption Competition is now closed, and over 50 entries were received in total. The winner was Andy Lloyd - well done Andy. Click here for the September competition. The Webmaster has now run out of photos, so if you have anything vaguely unusual, funny or embarrassing please email it to the Webmaster at the usual address.
September steam gala timetable The September steam gala, 'Return of the Prince', is fast approaching. The event, on the 10th & 11th of September, will mark the return to traffic of David Shepherd's magnificent 9F 2-10-0 'Black Prince' (the 17th last steam locomotive built for British Railways, in 1959) and the day will kick off with our popular 9:15 non-stop train from Toddington to Cheltenham. This will be headed by 'Black Prince' - recalling days of the 'Pines Express'. Unfortunately though, Collett 0-6-0 no. 3205, which is nearing the end of its 10-year boiler 'ticket', has failed with broken or cracked firebox stays. Given that it is so close to expiry of its boiler certificate it would be uneconomic to carry out repairs. The problem was discovered during the engine's recent boiler washout. Additionally, also because of boiler problems, Andrew Goodman's 57xx pannier tank no 9642 has also been sidelined. This leaves our current resident Hall class locomotives 'Kinlet Hall' and 'Foremarke Hall'. With three locomotives we can, however, still put on a spectacular performance with freight or local passenger trains between Toddington and Winchcombe interspersed with the 'main line' services to Cheltenham. But, all is not yet lost - we are working hard to get a surprise visiting locomotive and we hope to bring additional news shortly. Click here for our four locomotive timetable (this is a PDF file). When we know if and what additional engine will be coming, the timetable will be adjusted accordingly - so keep watching this space.
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Agreement has been reached with the Mid
-Hants Railway for Marcus Robertson's SR Merchant Navy class pacific to pay a fleeting visit to the GWR over the weekend. No. 35005 'Canadian Pacific' (pictured) is one of 30 express locomotives developed by O V S
Bulleid for the Southern Railway. Originally built to a controversial 'air-smoothed' design with many innovative features, including an enclosed oil bath for the middle of the three cylinders, the class proved troublesome in operation
although they were capable of extremely high speed running with the Southern's heaviest trains. British Railways rebuilt all members of the class to more conventional appearance
and in this form the class proved extremely reliable. Among the country's most powerful express steam locomotives, the Merchant Navy class continues to put in sterling service on
the Bournemouth expresses until July 1967, when electric traction took over.| <Home> <About GWR> <Travelling> <Supporting Us> <Ownership> <Development> <Enthusiasts> <Contact Us> <Links> |