A vital connection has been made that will help the forthcoming Cotswold Festival of Steam go smoothly.  That is a temporary track that connects one of the brand new pits at Toddington to the rest of the railway.

The first locomotive to use the first pit was GWR 0-6-2 tank locomotive no. 5619 at about 10 .30pm after it had returned with that evening's Cheltenham Fryer (fish & Chip special).  The lighting within the pits makes inspection so much easier.  Mark Young and Andrew Meredith - project managers for the pits, are delighted.  "Seeing an engine using our handiwork after the months of effort is fantastic," says Mark. "Both Andrew and I would like to thank all the volunteers who got stuck in and helped with their construction as well as Heming Services, the main contractor."

So why are pits so important?  With no fewer than eight locomotives available during the Festival, getting the locomotives serviced at the beginning and end of each day is vital.  And getting underneath locomotive is an essential part of the process: the driver needs to check the underside of the engine and oil up the sometimes hundreds of lubrication points (especially on a complex locomotive such as Lord Nelson, which has four cylinders and four sets of Walschaerts valve gear to contend with) and again carry out checks at the end of the day while on many locomotives the fireman needs to get under the engine to clear out the ashpan. So a pit is a vital part of any motive power depot.

You can see a plan of the project here.