Paddington Bear to visit the GWR while Thomas is on holiday!

Paddington Bear, who famously likes marmalade sandwiches is, amazingly, 50 years old this year .  So the GWR has invited him to celebrate his birthday at the railway this Spring!  More news will follow soon, but make a note in your diaries now that he will be at the railway on 19th and 20th April - bringing with him lots of friends. He hopes to see hundreds of families during his visit and there will be plenty of activity, competitions, fun and games to enjoy on the railway while he's here. Paddington originally came from Darkest Peru and how he came to arrive at Paddington station is the stuff of the best adventure stories. Paddington is, of course, the former Great Western Railway's London terminus, and he was found by Mr & Mrs Brown - a bear with a duffle coat and hat, and a luggage label that simply said 'Please look after this bear. Thank you'.  There he was, all alone, sitting on his battered suitcase amongst lots of mailbags.  That's how he got his unusual name and today, at Paddington station, there is a lovely bronze statue of one of the world's most famous bears. See if you can find it next time you have some time to spare at the station!

Of course, the present-day GWR was once part of a Great Western Railway main line which went through Cheltenham.  From there, the famous 'Cheltenham Flyer' - at one time the fastest express in the world - used to take passengers non-stop to Paddington station.

Paddington is visiting instead of 'Thomas' but the cheeky blue tank engine and friends will be visiting again in the future.  The reason why Thomas is unable to come relates to the complexities of agreeing a new contract with HIT Entertainment, the company that today owns the rights to Thomas.  We're sure you don't want to know about that but suffice to say that we're confident Thomas's smiling face will again be seen in the Cotswolds again before too long.