Firstly, a very belated Happy New Year to you all and I hope that you all had a good Christmas. Apologies for the large gap between the last blog and this one – sadly, I had to contend with my father passing away in October and all the associated ‘Sadmin’ (a term coined by my sister-in-law) which has included trying to organise the sale of his house. Anyone that has had to do this on their own will know just how time consuming this can be.
My old man, along with my Grandfather, was a big reason for me getting into railways and I will always be grateful to them for nurturing my interest. Although he wasn't a huge railway enthusiast, nor did he work on the railway like my Grandfather did, my father had sufficient interest to support my early fascination with railways - taking me on my first spotting visits to Bristol Temple Meads, Severn Tunnel Junction, Newport and Westbury, as well as taking me to the Old Oak Common Open Day in 1984. During this visit we were both given the opportunity to ride on the footplate of KGV into Paddington! If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be where I am today. Here's to you, Old Git!!
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| My father and grandfather pose in front of 45149 during a visit to the railway in back in 2015, shortly after my grandmother had passed away. Both of them always enjoyed visiting the GWSR - my grandfather especially, as he had driven most of the locos based at Toddington, including 45149, when he worked for BR. I owe them both a lot!! |
But, while I have been absent, things in the department have continued apace with a view to the start of the new season in March. It is a big season as we help to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.
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| 2025 marks 200 years of the 'modern' railway. The GWSR will have several events this year to celebrate. |
2024 finished on a positive, as far as the planned timetable was concerned. Passenger numbers were good and the locos performed as we expected with D6948, 45149 and 47105 taking on the final diesel turns of the season. The big talking point, however, was the sale of our Class 117 3-car DMU, L425 by the owning group.
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| On its last day at the GWSR, members of the small band of volunteers that looked after L425 in the last few years pose for a seminar photo alongside the set. (Courtesy of the GWSR DMU Facebook group) |
The DMUs at the GWSR have never had a dedicated band of volunteers to work on the vehicles, unlike all of the other owning groups, both steam and diesel; and it seemed that the owning group were happy just to let others make decisions and try and keep the units in operational use. In more recent years, a small number of steam (and latterly diesel) volunteers banded together to try and keep the 3-car set serviceable and to complete the protracted overhaul of the Class 122 ‘bubble car’. However, as the list of things needing rectification got longer the availability of people to do the work got shorter – especially as the steam chaps were called back to help with the overhaul preparations for a number of their own fleet or professionally moved onto pastures new limiting the time they could give. Somewhere along the line the owning group decided to downsize and the 3-car was put up for sale to go alongside the one of the ‘spare’ driving cars that never made it to the restoration line – W51372.
Within a matter of weeks, L425 and W51372 had been purchased and a new home announced as the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway in Scotland where the 3-car was put straight into service and work had begun on the repairs needed via their dedicated DMU team.
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| Within weeks of arrival at its new home, L425 was in use on the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway at their Winter Diesel Gala. (Courtesy of the SRPS - Bo'ness TMD) |
Back at the GWSR and it was still unknown if the bubble car would be staying, alongside Class 117 DMS W51360, however work has continued on the bubble car on the assumption that it is staying and therefore to get it back into service as quickly as possible – bearing in mind the Class 122 has now been out of traffic for 13 years!
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| 'Spare' DMS W51360 with W55003 sat behind it on DMU Row. These, along with stores coach W59505, are the only DMU vehicles on the railway now. |
The 2025/6 timetable is still reflective of some DMU running and, in the meantime, the railway has acquired a bubble car to start the season on loan from another railway, although details are a little thin on the ground. Watch this space!!
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| DMU Row, or Siding 2, at Toddington looks decidedly empty now! |
To the mainline diesels and things are ‘operationally calm’, as we say on the big railway! With the overhaul of Class 26, D5343 very well advanced, the only major works to be found has been with fellow Type 2, 5081. For a number of years, the Class 24 has suffered with an engine governor issue that has caused it to be fairly sluggish when taking power. After replacement of the governor several other issues were identified and the owners decided that, when the opportunity arose, to take it out of service and do a full engine overhaul. This was started in November and was combined with an opportunity to refresh the cabs with new boarding and a repaint.
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| Two of 5081's liners after removal |
Work has progressed fairly quickly on both jobs. The engine overhaul has seen the pistons and rings removed, possibly for the first time since 1975. The liners are currently being assessed ready for cleaning up and, with various items now removed, this gives a chance for the engine itself to have a clean and repaint.
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| Rocker covers and other engine parts from 5081 drying after receiving a new coat of paint. |
In the cabs the boarding that covers the bulkhead at no.1 end has been removed and new boarding has been cut down to the required sizing before being painted and fitted in place.
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| Some of the new board waiting to go into the cab of 5081. |
5343 has had the vast majority of its cab fronts finished with new steel and both have now had a first coat of yellow paint. There is still a fair amount to do with the re-fitting of the multiple working cables and lights, as well as some of the glazing that has been removed. Elsewhere on the bodywork painting has started with a shiny amount of blue now being sported in various locations, as well as some bright orange showing up on the multiple working receptacles.
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| No. 1 end of 5343 showing the progress that has been made. Although there is still plenty to do, the group are confident of the loco making a welcome return in 2025. |
Internally, the cabs are a fair way through the respective refurbishments with the pipework and cab walls now wearing new coats of the desired colouring. The cab floors are also now awaiting the fitting of new trim.
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| No. 1 end cab showing the new paintwork and flooring. |
New cab doors have been fabricated from wood and are currently receiving their metal trim before these are painted and fitted. The aim of having the loco back in traffic during 2025 is very much within touching distance.
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| One of the new cab doors that have been manufactured awaiting fitting of door handles. |
20228’s ongoing exhauster work is also nearing its end with most of the items comprising the exhauster and its pipework now in new coats of paint and ready for refitting to the locomotive. It will be good to have this machine running on its own in 2025.
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| Some of the painted air pipes waiting refitting to 20228. |
As an aside, 20228’s owner, Steve Madge, has been shortlisted for an award at the 2025 HRA Awards in the ‘Diesel and Electric Locomotion’ category for the work done on reverting 20228 back into it’s British Rail guise. Steve is not the only member of the Diesel Department to get nominated as our Gala Organiser (one of) and youngest Diesel Driver on the GWSR, Alex Raybould, has also been shortlisted in the ‘Lord Faulkner Young Volunteer of the Year Award’. Good luck to both of them and congratulations on the nominations. They re certainly well deserved.
Back to the locos and we stay with Steve’s other Class 20, 20137. With its sister occupying the space in the shed 20137 has been banished outside into the yard for the winter. In order to prevent any damage to the loco from the weather, any liquids that could freeze were drained or had additives included to protect from low temperatures. As an extra precaution the loco also had its electronic Automatic Voltage Regulator (AVR) removed. This is an extremely sensitive piece of kit that does not like long periods of inactivity in cold temperatures and so Steve took the decision to remove it. This means that the loco is completely inoperable until it is refitted and the loco de-winterised.
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| 20137 at rest in the yard on 29 Jan 25 awaiting reactivation from its winter slumber. |
Similarly, ‘Peak’ 45149 has also been winterised to see out the cold weather in the yard after its last use on the Mince Pie Specials over the New Year. As the weather warms and the season gets nearer, the ‘Peak’ will also be de-winterised and undergo its yearly B Exam to ready it for the new season.
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| The slumbering giant that is 'Peak', 45149 also awaits the start of the new season in the yard at Toddington. |
With some of the BT4F volunteers employed on the engine overhaul of 5081, the groups two Class 47s, 47105 and 47376 ‘Freightliner 1995’ have had a fairly quiet and uneventful winter. However, with the basic winter maintenance underway both locos will be having their B Exams completed in the coming weeks to ready them for the new season.
Talking of B Exams, on Wednesday, 29 Jan I was able to put in a first appearance at Toddington for some 2 months. A hearty number were in attendance with a number of tasks to be divided out and completed. Our HoD, Dave S was busy back on the Class 26 along with new starter, Dan, Duncan J and Andy D.
Phil T and Phil B took on the task of cleaning out the parts washer and renewing the cleaning fluid. Brave blokes……I dread to think the last time it was done!
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| Our parts washers - valuable pieces of kit for any maintenance environment. The down side is they can get filthy very quickly and need regular cleaning. |
Paul C, Dave H and myself made a start on the B Exam for Class 37, 37215. Sister loco, D6948 had had her B Exam started the previous week and was awaiting the completion of all the safety critical elements. Both Class 37’s, like the 47’s, have had a fairly quiet winter with some minor repairs being completed on both locos’ braking systems and some minor tasks rectified – including tracing and mending some minor fluid leaks.
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| Checking the oil level on the radiator fan clutch in the rad room of 37215. |
The non-safety critical tasks on the B Exam are fairly straightforward so it wasn’t long before I found myself completing the non-safety critical elements by myself as Paul had disappeared to complete some work on Class 117 DMS, W51360 that was left over from the previous week.
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| And, also checking the oil levels on the top compressor at No. 1 end of 37215. |
Dave H and Duncan were treated to an impromptu training session on coupling vacuum hoses together from Hugh. Both have accepted Secondman training for 2025 and one of the skills to master is the coupling up of the ‘vac bags’. It is probably the hardest task a Secondman will undertake mainly because it requires a fair amount of physical effort and technique in a confined space. You will also have quite a few pairs of eyes looking at you when you do it for real and the last thing you want is to look foolish! Take it from someone who knows!
Once news filtered around as to what they were doing, a small gallery of eyes suddenly appeared to watch them both fighting to control the two hoses on 37215 and D6948. It really is one of those tasks where practice makes perfect and in quieter moments it is always a good idea to have a little practice in the shed.
Fuelled by lunch and healthy dose of Mrs C’s wonderful sponge, I was joined by Paul C and Phil T who helped to complete the last few elements of the B Exam that we are allowed to do. All of the safety critical elements will be completed by our technical gurus in the coming weeks.
Towards the middle of the afternoon, the shed resembled the Marie Celeste. Where had everyone deserted to?
Hugh and Andy D had decided to have a go at tidying up one of the freight vans in the yard. Several sections of the department loan a former 20 tonne VIX Transfesa Ferry van from one of the railway’s benefactors to store some of the larger items of spares inside that there isn’t room for in containers or in the shed. This is usually stored at the end of the line at Broadway but had been brought back to Toddington to access some required items. He had quite a gallery of onlookers……so this is where everyone had disappeared to!
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| The end result of Andy D's removal of some of the rotten plywood on the ferry van. |
Over the years this wagon has not fared very well in the weather and a lot of the plywood used in the construction had either rotted, warped or had been kicked through by vandals so Andy had decided to start looking at making some repairs before it gets taken back to Broadway.
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| This is what a VIX Ferry Van looked like in mainline service. Maybe one day ours may run like this again. |
Away from the day to day events of the railway, if you are interested in the history of the line in its entirety from Lansdown Junction to Stratford upon Avon then you may wish to visit a new Facebook page dedicated to a pictorial history of the line. You may recall I have previously shared photos of diesels on the line during the 1960s and 1970s courtesy of one of our long time volunteers, Tom Cullimore. Well, Tom has set up this new page to share his vast collection of photos as well as to invite others to share theirs. You can reach the site, 'The Stratford-uponAvon to Cheltenham Railway Archive ' if you have a Facebook account, via the following link....
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1293863581633273/
As a little taster, here is one picture that has appeared here, but also appears on the archive courtesy of Tom. We see Class 40, D316 heading a Class 8 coal train through Winchcombe towards Greet Tunnel in the late 1960s. Class 40s were a rare sight on the line and this capture, by the late Bill Potter, is superb.
Finally, a date for the diary. Our Diesel Gala this year is back to its normal end of July slot and will take place over the 25, 26 and 27 July 2025. A guest loco will be announced although discussions are still ongoing. The visitor will be announced when contracts are signed and sealed.
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