Trains start this weekend! And ‘kids’ 25 or younger go free…
posted on: 05 March 2009
updated on: 10 January 2010
article by: webmaster
The GWR's 2009 season starts on Saturday (7th March) with the
Green Timetable so whether you are into steam or diesel, or both,
then there is plenty to enjoy. It's a busy start too - with the
trains for the four-day Cheltenham Festival from 10th March and
Mothering Sunday bringing an Elegant Excursions special Sunday
Luncheon train.
Motive power for the start of the season will be Modified Hall
class 4-6-0 no. 7903 Foremarke Hall (pictured on our homepage)
which celebrates its 60th birthday this year* and Class 47 diesel
no. 47105 (formerly Brush Sulzer Type 4 no. D1693), which will be
46 years old in December.*
But the most important anniversary is that 2009 marks 25 years
since the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway ran its first
passenger train, over just 700 yards of track at Toddington with
just one coach and a tiny tank engine. And if you are a 'kid'
aged 25 or younger, you can travel absolutely free on any public
day during March provided you are accompanied by a fare-paying
passenger of any age.
The GWR now runs over 10 miles between Toddington and Cheltenham
using ex-main line motive power such as Foremarke Hall and 47105 -
a far cry from those early, pioneering days.
* This pairing represents the change-over
period on British Railways. 7903 is a Great Western design
completed at Swindon Works by BR and even at that stage the first
diesels were being developed. By the early 1960s, diesels were
making inroads, increasingly replacing steam traction and the Class
47s were a highly successful class that have stood the test of
time. Some are still operating on the national network today. Both
locomotives may well have met in past years: 47105's first
allocation was at Bristol Bath Road while 7903 was allocated at the
opposite end of the Great Western main line, Old Oak Common in
London.