The Cotswold Festival of Steam is rapidly approaching - nine days of pure action, divided between the Bank Holiday weekend of 24th to 26th May and 31st May and 1st June.  In between, a normal all-steam Red timetable will operate using visiting locomotives.

But it's not just locomotives - on 1st June, the grand finale will be a fly-past from the RAF Memorial Flight's World War 2 Hurricane and Spitfire fighters and Lancaster bomber.

Back on solid ground the star performer is from the National Railway Museum: Southern Railway's prototype Lord Nelson class no. 850 Lord Nelson. This masterpiece of Southern Railway locomotive engineering was once the most powerful 4-6-0 express locomotive in Britain. Its restoration was completed by the Eastleigh Railway Preservation Society and it performed well on the main line for a year until it was stopped for a firebox problem. This has been resolved and the engine is expected to arrive at Toddington just in time for the Festival.

So what else is on the menu?

Apart from Lord Nelson, the line-up looks like this:
Representing the Great Western Railway: The first locomotive to reach a recorded 100mph, City class 4-4-0 no. 3440 City of Truro, courtesy of the National Railway Museum.  Then 'Small Prairie' no. 5542 will be paired with two auto-trailers - no. 178 from the Dean Forest Railway and no. 163 from Llangollen. 5542 was at one time a Cheltenham-based engine.  Also, Collett 0-6-2 'Taffy Tank' locomotive no. 5619 - now resident on the GWR. Although designed to handle mineral traffic in South Wales, there were a couple of them based at Gloucester and they worked over our line from time to time.  5619 was returned to steam in March following overhaul at the Flour Mill workshops in the Forest of Dean.

Representing the Southern Railway: Apart from Lord Nelson, Bulleid unrebuilt West Country class pacific no. 34007 Wadebridge makes a welcome return to the GWR.  This is its first outing since a catastrophic fire destroyed the locomotive's cab last year.  It appears courtesy of its owning group and the Mid-Hants Railway.

Representing the LMS: Fowler 4F class 0-6-0 no. 44422 is another 'first' for the GWR.  The class hasn't been seen on the line since British Railways days.  The engine will arrive just before the Festival from the Llangollen Railway.

Representing British Railways: Resident 'Modified Hall' no. 7903 Foremarke Hall is a popular performer on the GWR.  Although a Great Western design, it was turned out of Swindon works post-nationalisation, in 1949. Joining it is David Shepherd's marvellous 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92203 Black Prince - completed 10 years later, also at Swindon.  The engine will make an appearance as it did almost exactly 40 years ago when David took delivery of his newly-acquired engine at the embryonic preservation project on the Longmoor Military Railway in 1968. The smokebox door brackets and other fixtures will be embellished with white paint just as it did all those years ago, giving it a very distinctive appearance.  On 1st June, David Shepherd himself will be there to enjoy the occasion and celebrate with visitors by symbolically fixing the engine's nameplates - of course, it was David who named the engine - it never carried a name in British Railways days.

There will be much more to enjoy too - including footplate and signalbox visits, visits to Carriage & Wagon works at Winchcombe, Fred Lea's art at Cheltenham and a range of stands and displays at Toddington.

More news will follow soon!

The small print: As always, every locomotive and aircraft subject to availability!