You may have seen on some of our social channels, if you follow them, that our Class 20, D8137, is no more. Owner, Steve M, has been toying with bringing the loco into the post-TOPS world and decided he would do just that last week. D8137 disappeared from the roster to be replaced by 20137, a number the loco hasn't worn since it was repainted into BR Green.
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| Welcome back 20137. (Courtesy S. Madge) |
As you'll notice, the loco is still in BR Green and not BR Blue despite the fact it now has it's TOPS number. Not all locos received a repaint when they were renumbered for TOPS - Total Operations Processing System - with some remaining in a very worn BR Green until their next major overhaul. Some would also receive a blue TOPS panel.
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| The blue TOPS data panel. These were procured by Phil S, one of our other volunteers. |
20137 was one of those to maintain BR Green with it's TOPS number and blue data panel well into 1975 and so is prototypical. After posting the pictures up on our GWSR socials, a photo surfaced to highlight that this was indeed prototypical for the loco.
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| 20137 sits on Polmadie TMD, Glasgow, on the 31 March 1975. (John Strong) |
This picture was posted by Bruce Strong and was originally taken by his father, John. Bruce gave me permission to share to demonstrate that 20137 did indeed wear BR Green with its TOPS number and with a blue data panel. Although, I don't expect the loco will be reunited with snowploughs!!
I had the luxury of taking the loco out on it's first turn in it's new 1975-guise along with owner, Steve, on Sunday 12 June on our PINK timetable.
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| 20137 at Cheltenham after it's first run from Broadway. |
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| At Winchcombe on the first trip back from Cheltenham Race Course. |
However, you don't have to look back too far to the last time we had a pair of Class 20s on the line. In fact, we had D8098 visit for the 2017 Gala from the Great Central Railway which worked in multiple with the then D8137 replicating a likely pairing from the 1960s or 70s as both were allocated to Glasgow Eastfield.
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| D8098 and D8137 power round the curve at Didbrook, heading towards Hayles Abbey Halt in 2017. (Photo by the late Malcolm Ranieri) |
Speaking of Galas....another reminder that ours is just around the corner and will take place, as always, on the last weekend of July. In this case, the 29, 30 and 31 July.
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| 'Ere, mate, is that a Deltic??' Anything with a bonnet or 'nose' seems to provoke this question from the uninitiated. But, even the GWSR Marketing Team seem to be confused by what a 'Deltic' is, using a quality picture of 45149, instead. Possibly, just an innocent mistake. |
In case you have been living under a rock for the last few months, our guest loco this year is going to be pretty special - we have reached an agreement with the Deltic Preservation Society to have Class 55, 'Deltic', 55019 'Royal Highland Fusilier'.
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| This is a 'Deltic'!! 55019 'Royal Highland Fusilier', our Gala visitor for 2022. |
This will be a big first for the railway in that a 'Deltic' has never traversed the line - in BR days or in Preservation - so this will prove to be a big event. Help us to celebrate that by heading along and enjoying the Gala with us.
As well as the guest loco, we will also see the available 'home' fleet in action (barring any unforeseen events) which will include:
Class 20, 20137
Class 24, 5081
Class 37, 37215 (as long as it's B Exam and FTR are successful)
Class 45, 45149
Class 47, 47105
Class 47, 47376 'Freightliner 1995'
We will also have Class 20, 20228; Class 26, D5343 and, possibly, Class 37, D6948 on display with at least one of them available for cab visits. It is also hoped that Class 122 'bubble car', W55003 will have had it's repaint completed and will also be on display, although the interior will still be in need of completion.
You can, of course, keep up to date with all Gala happenings in the run up to the weekend by keeping an eye on the social channels on Twitter, Facebook and on the GWSR website.
Twitter
@GWSRDiesels
@TheGrowlerGroup
@BT4Fund
@Leyland680
@GWSR
Facebook
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
The Growler Group
Brush Type 4 Fund
GWSR DMU Group
The weekend before last was the Cotswold Festival of Steam. Not usually the bastion of diesel traction but, for this event, the steam department asked if we could provide a little insurance and have a Thunderbird loco on standby. It also meant that there were some stock ECS moves needed to get the rakes of stock into the right starting places. Class 24, 5081 was nominated to undertake one of the ECS moves.
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5081 sits at a wet Winchcombe before working back to Toddington with the 'local' rake for the Steam Gala. (Courtesy of Alex Raybould)
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| The roof hatch on D5343 makes for easy access to paint the majority of the roof area. The engine, below, is covered as the pistons, liners, heads and tappets are all now in place. (Courtesy Alex Raybould) |
While Alex was busy on the roof, Harrison was below in the engine compartment cleaning the turbo charger housing and giving it a new coat of paint. Photos, again, by Alex.
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| During cleaning. |
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| After cleaning and painting. Much better. |
It is planned, over the next few weeks, for ancillary work to commence prior to refitting all the repainted pipework. It can then all be tested for integrity. Meanwhile, work continues outside with the first coats of blue undercoat appearing on certain parts of the bodywork.
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| It has even had an unusual cabside embellishment!! (Courtesy of Alex Raybould) |
37215 will hopefully be fighting fit for the Gala. The Generator repairs have now been, more or less, completed. The loco now requires testing and a B Exam completed before it can be accepted back into traffic. It is hoped that this can be completed successfully in the coming weeks enabling the 'Growler' to have a couple of rostered turns before the gala. Sister loco, D6948, still awaits its lift but there has been a development that may see the lift occur rather sooner than anticipated, although it would mean that it would not be able to take part in the Gala. The owners have a lot of mulling over to do to see what decision best suits them and the loco.
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| Still looking proud, despite being stuck at the back of the shed for nearly 3 years. |
The Class 117 set, L425, saw some much needed running over our Ale Weekend, being utilised on the Toddington - Winchcombe shuttles. The set has new been retired again until later in the year where more bodywork can be treated for the dreaded tin worm. W55003 continues with its repaint down at Carriage and Wagon at Winchcombe. It won't be long until the team down there are applying the second coat of BR Green. As mentioned earlier, it will hopefully be on display for the Gala.
The loco rosters for the remainder of June and the whole of July are currently set like this. Of course, this may change due to unforeseen circumstances or unavailability of crew. * - denotes that this is dependent on passing its FTR and B Exams.
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15 June |
|
47xxx |
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16 June |
|
45149 |
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18 June |
|
45149 |
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19 June |
|
47xxx |
|
21 June |
|
45149 |
|
22 June |
|
47xxx |
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23 June |
|
47xxx |
|
25 June |
|
45149 |
|
26 June |
|
20137 |
|
28 June |
|
5081 |
|
29 June |
|
37215* |
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30 June |
|
45149 |
|
|
|
|
|
02 July |
|
45149 |
|
03 July |
|
47xxx |
|
05 July |
|
5081 |
|
06 July |
|
45149 |
|
07 July |
|
5081 |
|
09 July |
|
5081 |
|
10 July |
|
5081 |
|
12 July |
|
37215* |
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13 July |
|
37215* |
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14 July |
|
37215* |
|
16 July |
|
45149 |
|
17 July |
|
45149 |
|
19 July |
|
45149 |
|
20 July |
|
5081 |
|
21 July |
|
5081 |
|
23 July |
|
45149 |
|
24 July |
|
20137 |
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26 July |
|
20137 |
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27 July |
|
20137 |
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28 July |
|
5081 |
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29 July |
GALA |
20137, 5081, 37215*, 45149, 47105, 47376, 55019 |
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30 July |
GALA |
20137, 5081, 37215*, 45149, 47105, 47376, 55019 |
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31 July |
GALA |
20137, 5081, 37215*, 45149, 47105, 47376, 55019 |
