The (BR) Blue and the Green

Firstly, a correction from the previous episode. I wrongly added that our upcoming Autumn Diesel Weekend on the 7th and 8th October is all ticket. To clarify - IT IS NOT!!! The normal GWSR fare structure will apply over the whole weekend. For more details go HERE.

The weekend just gone saw our final Thomas and Friends event of the year. It is always a busy event that sees a very intensive timetable, utilising two of our mainline diesels and the DMU, the Class 04 and one of the steam fleet alongside the main protagonist. 45149 was put to work on the Cheltenham - Winchcombe services and 37215 on the Toddington - Winchcombe shuttle, alternating with Thomas.

The cheeky blue chap on shed on Saturday morning.

Saturday started off early. A 5.45am start from home to be on shed at 7am in order to meet up with my driver, Richard S, and to prep the class 45 - our locomotive for the day. On arrival, the 'peak' had been parked outside Road 11 attached to the battery charger.

The beast at slumber! My bag gets in on the act!

An external walk round showed all was well and it was ready to fire her up. 45149 is fitted with a mileage counter, something, I must admit, I had not noticed before - but, then, this was probably only my third time rostered on it. I wasn't sure if it was showing 250,080 miles or 350,080. If accurate, and showing 250,080 miles.....it isn't far off the distance to the Moon which is 252,088 miles away!!! It would be interesting to know when this was set at zero and how long it has taken to get to this reading! Perhaps one of the chaps in the Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group know?

The Smiths mileage/distance counter.

Two hundred thousand or three hundred thousand? You decide!

After the internal checks and starting up, extracting 37215 from the shed, we were off to Winchcombe to pick up the scratch rake and head to Cheltenham. The weather wasn't particularly pleasant which was to put quite a lot of people off and the day wasn't as well patronised as usual. One group it didn't put off was BBC Gloucestershire's Live team who turned up around mid day with the GWSR's Commercial Manager, Colin Fewell. Our Department Manager, Andy Durham, was to get his 5 minutes of fame with 37215 during a brief 'show and tell' broadcast live on social media!

On the run round at Winchcombe. 37215 is in the P'Way siding awaiting the return of Thomas.

Awaiting departure as the weather improves. But, someone was late to the party! Guess who?

And........here he is!

Taken from Winchcombe Box after dropping off the 3rd Rake, 45149 awaits the road.

At 139 tonnes (45149) and 103 tonnes (35006) respectively, the heaviest/largest locos from the respective GWSR motive power fleets stand side by side at Toddington MPD.

Sunday was to bring much better weather which led to much improved attendance. Winchcombe was heaving with people and all trains were running pretty close to capacity throughout the day. A later start for me as I was rostered on the ever reliable and popular 37215. Cue plenty of cab visits, questions and photos. A cracking day was to end with a fantastic photo opportunity of two blue diesels in the same platform at Winchcombe. Both locos performed faultlessly despite 45149's continued compressor fault.

Beautiful in blue! 37215 and 45149 at Winchcombe at the end of the Sunday.

Meanwhile, on the Saturday, although parked up in the old dock siding at Toddington with the 'Troublesome Trucks', 11230 received attention to its engine courtesy of George and, its owner, Ian C. The Class 04 had failed during the week leaving Toddington MPD with no shunter - DES also being sidelined with serious wheel bearing problems. By the end of the Saturday the engine seemed to be running without issue.

Elsewhere at Toddington on the Saturday, things remained fairly quiet with few people in attendance other than those rostered or helping with the event. Tim and Ian from the Type 4 Group were busy working on 47105 and its continued overhaul. More work in the engine room and on the liners was completed bringing the project further along.

47105's roof space from the cab of 37215.

On Sunday it was the turn of Class 24, 5081, to have its bogie overhaul continued with. With D6948 and 47376 pulled clear and outside of the shed, the first coat of primer could be sprayed on to the first bogie. Both Traction Motors had also been cleaned and these, too, received their first coats of primer.

5081's bogie receives its first coat of primer.

Shiny!!

5081's Traction Motors, all cleaned of 40 years of grime, also in receipt of primer.

Class 26, 5343, made it safely to the Epping and Ongar Railway for their diesel gala. Having suffered a slight failure in its last couple of days at the Great Central, the loco was back to fighting fit and has already worked a few turns on the old London Underground route between Epping Forest and Ongar in preparation for their gala. She is due to be back at the GWSR in time for the Autumn Gala.

D6948 and 47376 remain in operational condition with 'in service' maintenance being conducted as and when required. One thing that is ongoing with D6948 is a slight issue with its vacuum pipes. It has been known for a while that the pipes on the loco are difficult to resit on the 'dummies' when uncoupling from stock and are kinked when fitted back on the 'dummies'. Originally it was thought that the pipes that had been ordered and fitted were the wrong size. After comparisons with the rest of the fleet, all pipes were measured at 750mm - normal for BR diesels. After further investigation it appears that the pipes have been re-sited on the buffer beam at some point and this has, in turn, caused the issues with the pipes. Although not a serious issue a resolution is being investigated in order to reduce the stress on the pipes.

The GWSR DMU fleet also took delivery of its final Class 117 DMBS. W51370 joined sister W51372 and Class 107 DMCL Sc52029 in the 'awaiting restoration' line. Time will tell as to whether the owners see fit to restore them all or strip for spares. In the meantime, L425 suffered a failure on the 21st September which saw DMS W51405 replaced in the set by W51360 for the Thomas weekend. With the increased demands being placed on L425, the ongoing restoration of 'Bubble' 122003 and three 'new' trailer cars to look at restoring or stripping the small restoration team are becoming increasingly overwhelmed. So much so, an SOS has gone out from the Cotswold Diesel Railcar Group for more hands to share the load. If you are interested in lending a hand, even if you can only give up a small amount of time, then contact the group via email at gwsrdmu@gmail.com or via their facebook site HERE.

And, its not just the DMU's that need additional help. As everything at the GWSR is kept ticking by volunteers all the groups within the Diesel Department are always on the look out for new people. If you are interested in giving restoration a go (no specific skills are necessary, just enthusiasm) and diesels are your thing then give us a shout via the GWRT website HERE, come and visit us at Toddington MPD or contact one of the owning groups direct -

The Growler Group - owners of 37215 and custodians of D6948 - http://thegrowlergroup.org.uk/

Brush Type 4 Fund - owners of 47105 and 47376 - http://www.brushtype4fund.co.uk/

Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group - owners of D5343 and 45149 - https://cmdg.org.uk/index.html

24081 Group - Owners of 5081 - http://24081locogroup.weebly.com/