It's been a little while since the last blog edition so, in lieu of this, I bring you quite a special piece to start this latest edition.
Not a lot is made of the Honeybourne - Cheltenham line after the withdrawing of steam in the Western Region in 1965. Most of what is readily found concerns the loss of steam-era infrastructure or memories of the halcyon days of that age. There is small anecdotes or nods to diesel-hauled race specials to Cheltenham Race Course or that it was a diesel-hauled freight that hastened the closure of the line.
But, the line itself led a very interesting life between 1965 and 1976 that, in my opinion, was every bit as interesting as the use of the line by 'The Cornishman' in the 1950s or the 'Coffeepot' local auto-train workings. It is well known that the line became a very important diversionary and freight route for BR Western, taking some traffic off the congested ex-Midland route over the Lickey Incline and through Bromsgrove to Birmingham, but there is little record of what used the line and when, except from the notes of the intrepid enthusiasts of the time.
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| On a misty 17/10/70 Class 20s, or EE Type 1s, 8006 & D8145 wait at the bracket signal on The Honeybourne line at Cheltenham for a path to Gloucester via Lansdown Junction with a southbound goods. Original photo by the late Bill Potter and shared courtesy of Tom Cullimore. |
We are very lucky at the GWSR that a number of those intrepid, local enthusiasts became involved with the fledgling GWRS (the forerunner to the current Trust, that kick started the rising from the ashes of the GWSR in 1979) and have made their records available for others to enjoy. One of those is Tom Cullimore, who has been an active volunteer within the diesel department, predominantly on 'Peak' 45149. Tom grew up in Alderton, not far from Winchcombe or Toddington, and went to school in Winchcombe. This gave him a front row seat to view the line in the late 1970s and early 1980s and wonder what had preceded the track reclamation and decay. In the last few years, Tom has amassed a large collection of photos, negatives and information on the line - including the picture above that came from the archives of local photographer, Bill Potter - and has given me the permission to share some of it with you in the past, including another of Bill's photos below.
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| One of the first pictures that Tom allowed me to post, taken by Bill Potter, 'Peak' No. 12 races through the site of Winchcombe station on a diverted service for the South West. (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore) |
Tom posts some reminiscences up on Facebook in the GWSRs' unofficial group from time to time (you can access it here to join, if you are on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/322920307766027 ), but today (27/03/23), he posted something that I felt should be shared with a much wider audience, especially for those who don't do social media. He agreed and has given me his permission to publish it in full, along with a second one that I will post in a few weeks.
As the title suggests, Tom's post concerned the Working Timetable, or WTT, from May 1970 to May 1971 and the fact that, even at this 'late' time in the lines' life, there were still regular, timetabled services over the line - albeit diverted because of scheduled engineering works, but timetabled nonetheless! This first part concerns passenger traffic and is taken straight from Tom's post.
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| The 'Holy Grail'. Section 4 of the WTT for May 1970 to May 1971 (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore) |
"As a kid growing up at Windmill Farm in Alderton I was always conscious of a railway being 3 or so miles away. On certain days with the wind in the south west the sound of the "clickety clack" of wheels passing over rail joints was a regular sound. I only though have vague recollections of seeing locomotives on the line at Far Stanley, Stanley Pontlarge, Gretton and Toddington, I was but a mere youngster. With the closure of the route the fascination continued, as aged nine I began to start appreciating what had once been close by. A mainline on my doorstep was no more.
Before the tracks were lifted I used to walk the section from
Dixton Cutting to Gretton regularly. The rusting rails, the overgrown
vegetation, the chatter of the grass hoppers within it, the smell of the tar
from the sleepers and the line side Ganger huts are all still vivid memories. Attending Winchcombe School in
the late 70s and early 80s gave me a grandstand view of the track removal with the
base for this being in the stations yard next door to my place of learning. (For orientation, this would be where our current day Carriage and Wagon works are now - GA)
So as time went I continued to seek out information, records, spoken memories and photos to see what I had missed out on during that last decade of operation of the route. It's a quest which continues to this day. This last week some more information came my way courtesy of Dursley based railway and weather enthusiast Ian Thomas.
On Sundays from May 1970 until May 1971 diversions over the Honeybourne line were actually timetabled. These were copied for me by Ian and it's clear in order for the Midland line to be worked upon, the engineers required a period of fewer trains between midnight and 4 p.m the following afternoon for upgrading work to be completed. So a number of services were routed via Honeybourne and Evesham. This involved reversing in and out of Lansdown Station (modern day Cheltenham Spa station) at the Cheltenham end. It's clear from other photos that I have that these diversions also happened on days other than Sundays as well!
Here is the reversing timings for one of the services from the
May 70-71 timetable. (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore)
A particular highlight unearthed was the 1V53 23-50 Sheffield - Newton Abbot Motorail which passed through Bishops Cleeve at 4.15 a.m on Sunday morning. I bet that was popular with the locals!
Taken from an edition of Railway Magazine from March 1972 a picture, originally taken by John H Bird, showing Class 45, No. 34 (later 45119) heading over Stanway Viaduct towards Toddington with 1V83 1100 Liverpool - Plymouth on 14/03/1971. (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore)
So for the southbound line trains we kick off with the aforementioned working (1V53), then as follows -
- 4V04 23.46 York - Bristol Parcels
- 1V59 09-05 Birmingham New Street - Bristol Temple Meads
- 1V65 07.05 Newton Le Willows-Newton Abbot Motorail
- 1V70 08.00 Bradford Exchange -Penzance, and
- 1V83 11.00 Liverpool - Lime Street - Plymouth.
Up line workings were:
- 1M75 22.59 Bristol Temple Meads
- 1M10 01.00 Bristol Temple Meads - Derby
- 1E30 09.00 Bristol Temple Meads - Newcastle
- 1M91 08.20 Plymouth - Liverpool, and
- 1E20 & 13.55 Bristol Temple Meads - Newcastle."
A second scan from March 1972s Railway Magazine, also taken by John H Bird on 14/03/71, shows Class 46, 166 (later 46029) on 1M91 0820 Plymouth - Liverpool exiting Hunting Butts tunnel towards Cheltenham Race Course. (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore)
A capture by J Spencer-Gilks from September 1970 shows 1M91 again, this time powered by split headcode Class 45, D27 (later 45028), as it passes through the remains of Toddington station. The line speed here was 80mph! From this picture it is hard to believe that the station had only been closed for a decade and the yard for just over 5 years. A superb picture that is a great
yardstick to show just how far the GWSR has come in the 50+
years since that photo was taken, but also how little has changed around
the railway in those intervening years! (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore)
During this
period there would have been additional diversions as well as those above
that were timetabled, however these additions would have been ad-hoc to
minimise congestion, overcome pathing issues or in the instances of
failures or late running. Below are some additional photos from Tom's
collection of services during this 12 month period that traversed the
line. The original photographer for each was, again, the late Bill Potter.
The first of two photos that shows Class 46, 190 (later 46053) reversing 1N73 from Cheltenham Lansdown (now Cheltenham Spa) station across Lansdown Junction and onto the 'Honeybourne' line. Taken on 12/06/1970, this move was fairly commonplace for services that would have a booked stop at Cheltenham but would be diverted via Toddington. It wouldn't happen now! (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore)
Having completed it's propelling move, 190 now heads into Cheltenham towards Race Course station with 1N73. Even after nearly a decade of the 'corporate' BR identity, items of rolling stock were still to be found wearing the older colour schemes - the 4th coach back being in BR Maroon. (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore)
Another of Bill Potter's many photos from the A40 road bridge in Cheltenham shows Class 47, 1909 (later 47232, 47665 and finally 47820) heading down towards Lansdown Junction from Honeybourne with 1V90 1519 York - Bristol on 12/06/1970. This service was an additional diversion not listed in the WTT. Cheltenham Lansdown (now Spa) station is just to the left on the curve of the ex-LM tracks. (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore)
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| This final photo shows Class 47, 1547 (later 47432) heading 1M36 1510 Newton Abbot - Newton le Willows Motorail service, loaded to some 550 tons, towards Cheltenham Race Course at Lansdown Junction on 12/06/1970. Again, a maroon Mk. 1 BFK breaks up the blue/grey monopoly of liveries. (Courtesy of Tom Cullimore) |
Even looking at just a small period in the lines' history demonstrates that it's story was far from over with the withdrawal of passenger services in 1960, and then steam in 1965. In fact, it's importance, and the amount of traffic it saw, was probably on a par with the days of steam even as late as 1970. It perhaps makes it's closure in 1976 all the more galling, however, of course, we wouldn't have the fine heritage railway that we enjoy now. It is also perhaps no surprise that, as recently as 2010, there were rumours that Railtrack (later Network Rail) wanted to investigate the possibility of reinstating the line between Cheltenham and Honeybourne for the reasons of increased capacity. How the GWSR would have fared in this matter is probably not worth thinking about!
The second element to Toms' recollections will cover some of the freight traffic that was timetabled to traverse the route during the 1970s. Once again, I would like to thank Tom for allowing me to utilise his words and the photos to which he is custodian.
So, back to the modern day and services have now started on our 2023 timetable. The mainline diesel fleet don't get started until Saturday 1 April, but the Class 117 set, L425, has been out on the BLUE TT alongside one of the steam engines.
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| L425 passes the P'Way Team at Stanley Pontlarge as it heads to Broadway. (Courtesy of GWSR Heritage Herald Blog/Jo Roesen) |
However, that doesn't mean that the fleet has been tucked up doing nothing. The Permanent Way team have been very busy over the winter period with track and sleeper replacements at Didbrook and Cheltenham as well as track maintenance at Peasebrook. This has meant the need for several P'Way trains to be run, but also ECS workings have been run for the Race Trains and in readiness for the new season. This has been quite timely for Class 37, D6948, which has returned to the roster after nearly 3 years out of service as these trips have been used to prove the loco fit for traffic after completion of its repairs and B Exam.
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| On 27/02/23, D6948 sits at Stanton on its first train in nearly 3 years - ballast for Didbrook. (Courtesy of Paul Cronin) |
Since its successful test on 27/02, D6948 has worked on a couple of follow up ballast jobs and will the first mainline loco in use over the weekend of 1st and 2nd April.
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| A month later and D6948 is to be found back at Stanton on another ballast service. This time the drops were on the northern CWL section between Laverton and Peasebrook. (Courtesy of GWSR Heritage Herald Blog/Jo Roesen) |
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed a slight difference with D6948. Between the two photos being taken the headcode at no. 1 end has been changed! One of the little jobs that the loco still has outstanding was to get the headcode blinds at no.1 working again.
On the 4th March, Dave S and I went about trying to get the mechanism to work. The one in no.1 end has always been troublesome; the rotating mechanism worked fine but the selector would not select blinds 3 and 4 (these are the ones showing '9' and '3' in the second photo) and would only allow blind 2 to wind in one direction. Dave and I removed the backing panel in the nose of the loco to find out what was happening. It was a lot easier to do when the fire bottles weren't in the loco!
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| There is always one bolt that you can't reach! Luckily Dave has longer, thinner arms than me but, I don't think he thought he was lucky! |
Once the viewing plate was loose (we couldn't take it off completely because of the fire bottles), we could see that a couple of light bulbs were broken, subsequently replaced by me, but that the mechanism was not allowing blinds 3 and 4 to be selected. At some point, it would appear that a grease was used to lubricate the gearing and this had now clogged up the mechanism.
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| The clogged mechanism. (Courtesy of David Stanton) |
This means that the headcode box will need to be removed so that the gearing can be cleaned. This isn't an easy job due to the constraints of space in the nose, but also the loco being in service. Luckily, we don't tend to use it to display train reporting numbers as the time we get to run round when on service trains is not sufficient to allow us to change them - even though the rule book says we should! However, Dave and I couldn't finish off without changing the headcode to something more relevant to the loco. It had been 1M60 for a long time and it is unlikely that D6948 ever worked a Class 1 service. As a South Wales machine, it would have worked almost exclusively on freight so a freight reporting number was needed.
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| 6C93 - a very Welsh reporting number. Although a bit modern for D6948. |
Originally, we moved it to 6M63 which is the reporting number for the early path of the Bridgwater - Crewe nuclear flasks, but it was decided to leave it with the reporting number shown in the photo above - 6C963 was the modern reporting number for a Cwmbargoed to Aberthaw MGR service, latterly for another coal service from Cwmbargoed. A bit more appropriate. However, as you can see from Jo Roesen's photo above, someone has now changed the C for a D. Philistines!
The 'Green Machine' hasn't been the only loco to get out and stretch their legs. 47105 has also been utilised on the P'Way services as well as on ECS duties, preparing the rolling stock for the Race Trains and for the start of the season.
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| The BT4Fs 47105 stands just beyond Two Hedges Bridge near Bishops Cleeve during a rail drop on 21/03/23. (Courtesy of GWSR Heritage Herald Blog/Jo Roesen) |
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| 47105 stands at the RDA Crossing on the approach to Cheltenham RC to drop more rail off. (Courtesy of GWSR Heritage Herald Blog/Jo Roesen) |
Fellow Class 47, 47376 'Freightliner 1995' has continued to receive a variety of repairs. On 04/03/23 the loco was hauled outside so that it could be refitted with its fire bottles. These are sited in the engine room and can only be inserted via the side doors. This necessitated the use of the telehandler and a lot of brute strength.
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| 'H' gets to grips with the lifting strop, securing it tightly. New starter, Hugh, oversees proceedings while HoD Andy and Tim L shoot the breeze. |
'Peak' 45149 has negotiated its B Exam and is now fit for the 2023 timetable. The Class 45 will be the third loco in use throughout April alongside D6948 and 47105.
The CMDGs ongoing overhaul on D5343 has seen more steel added to the drivers side panel below the window as well as on the cab front. The crib plates that were manufactured have all been fitted which is facilitating the welding of the new plate to the cab and sides. With the access to the pipework being easier, work has also been completed on replacing some old or damaged air pipework that passes along the front of the loco.
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| After diagnosing the fault with D6948s headcode, Dave S then went back to removing some of the remaining bad steel before fitting the crib plates to the Secondmans' side. You can see the crib plates in place on the Drivers' side as well as the steel work on the cab side which has been primed. |
On the 04/03/23, the Secondmans' side was prepared ready for the fitting of the crib plates. The slope in the buffer beam issue had been overcome and a plan put in place for fitting the crib sheets - as had been done on the Drivers' side.
Whilst Dave S carried on with the angle grinder, Jon and Tony made a start on cleaning down and then priming the interior face of the body side doors. Primer had also been applied to the metal below the Drivers window. Some of this had been replaced due to the crash damage identified.
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| Jon (L) and Tony clear away the final bits of detritus from the inside of the body side door. After clearing it all away they made a start on priming the door. |
After Dave had finished with the grinding and cutting, access could be given to the cab and the pipework and wiring that runs across the front of the loco. These are primarily air pipes but also electrical conduits. Some of these had perished or were in poor condition so Alex got to grips with replacing some of the conduits and giving the wiring a tidy up.
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| Alex gets to grips with the pipework and wiring. |
The following day, Dave was back to weld the crib plates to the Secondmans' side sole bar. This was the side where the droop in the sole bar was very pronounced from historic accident damage. The droop, luckily, is not much of an issue with the crib plates that have been manufactured as, when welded in place, they sit above the droop therefore not interfering with the ability to weld on the new steel for the cab front.
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| As you can see, the crib sheets extend beyond the drooping sole bar so will still provide sufficient coverage for the welding of the new cab front. (Courtesy of David Stanton) |
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| The crib sheets are welded to the cab side. You can see just how pronounced the drop in the sole bar is. (Courtesy of David Stanton) |
Fast forward a couple of weeks to the 23/03/23 and more welding has taken place as has more priming. The air pipes that run through the old corridor connection had been refitted and primed as had the new steel that had been welded in place around it.
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| All primed with red oxide and ready for further dressing. These air pipes have had a new fitting produced as well as having a lot of the corroded steel around the base of the old corridor connection replaced. (Courtesy of David Stanton) |
With this job completed Dave was able to start welding in the new plate to the cab front.
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| Two new plates of steel welded to the cab front and the crib plates on the sole bar. (Courtesy of David Stanton) |
New plate had also been added to the Drivers' cab side, covering up the replaced pillar and structural metal work. This had also been primed in grey. The remaining holes around the pillar and cab front were covered as well.
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| The new cab side steel work as well as the new plates around the replaced pillar and the base of the cab front. (Courtesy of David Stanton) |
It is slowly coming together for the Class 26 although there is still a way to go yet. On that subject the Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group have set up a new Facebook page so that you can keep up to date with both locos within their ownership. You can access it, if you have a Facebook presence, here. Go give 'em a follow! ==> Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group | Toddington | Facebook
As mentioned earlier, the mainline locos return to traffic on Saturday 1st April (no April Fool!) with D6948 making a welcome return to the roster. The full, current, roster is below with usual caveats on availability. Hopefully, we will see you at the GWSR!
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Date |
Timetable |
Loco Allocated |
|
Sat 04 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
Sun 05 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
Sat 11 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
Sun 12 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
Sat 18 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
Sun 19 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
Sat 25 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
Sun 26 Mar |
|
L425 |
|
|
|
|
|
Sat 01 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Sun 02 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Tues 04 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Wed 05 Apr |
|
47105 |
|
Fri 07 Apr |
|
47105 |
|
Sat 08 Apr |
|
45149 |
|
Sun 09 Apr |
|
45149 |
|
Mon 10 Apr |
|
45149 |
|
Wed 12 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Thur 13 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Sat 15 Apr |
|
45149 |
|
Sun 16 Apr |
|
47105 |
|
Tues 18 Apr |
|
47105 |
|
Wed 19 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Thur 20 Apr |
|
45149 |
|
Sat 22 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Sun 23 Apr |
|
47105 |
|
Tues 25 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Wed 26 Apr |
|
D6948 |
|
Thur 27 Apr |
|
L425 |
|
Sat 29 Apr |
|
47105 |
|
Sun 30 Apr |
|
D6948 |
Finally, the GWSR have opened a new fundraising appeal to help with repairs to Stanway viaduct. Over the next couple of years around £1.5 million is needed to help pay for quite extensive repairs to the brickwork and drainage on and around the viaduct. If you can spare even a small amount then more details can be found on the GWSR website, https://www.gwsr.com/knowledgebase/ps1-5m-appeal-launched-for-urgent-repairs-to-iconic-stanway-viaduct
