The weekend just passed (25th and 26th September) saw our post-Covid 2021 Diesel Gala. A low-key affair with just our serviceable home fleet out to play. But, nobody told the 'Fates' and the two days were far from low-key and certainly pushed the organisers and Management close to the edge!
Before that, let's head back a week to the continued saga of removing the Compressor motor from the No.2 end of 45149. If you have read last weeks' brief blog then you would know that myself, Dave S and Alex R removed the motor from the nose and left it in the cab ready for the Sunday where Simon T would organise the forklift to remove the motor from the loco. The loco was shunted into the car park at Toddington so that it could be dealt with on reasonably level ground and not the ballast in the yard. Alex was on hand to get a couple of snaps...
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The forklift has been edged up to the cab door ready to receive the motor. (Courtesy of A. Raybould)
 | | The motor is carefully eased on to the forks of the forklift ready to be lifted out and placed in the boot of Simon's car. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
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The motor is now off to be assessed and a plan for repair drawn up. On this subject, don't forget that there is a running day being planned for Friday, 15th October to raise funds for the Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group to help with the continued running of 45149 and D5343. This has been organised by long time 'Peak' enthusiast, Andrew Piper and is a private, ticket only event, not a GWSR event. No ticket - No entry to the site. You will be able to purchase tickets on the day from the organisers. There will also be buckets on the train for donations. Come along to enjoy 84 miles of 'Peak' haulage and also help out the smallest group on the GWSR.
The CMDG's other loco, Class 26 D5343, has also continued to have its overhaul of its body work. Time is running out for the loco to be undercover in the David Page shed and so a lot of the work has gone in to making the loco as weatherproof as possible to go back into the yard. This has included the re-fitting of the body side window glass, although the first effort didn't go quite to plan. However, the remainder of the welding has been completed and the focus has now turned to the underframe areas.
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| D5343 in the confines of the DP shed. By the end of the weekend the loco had been moved to Road 9 so that the remainder of the work requiring the loco to be inside can be completed. |
Friday 24th saw the final preparations for the Weekend festivities. A few members of the department, including Alex, Steve M and Simon T, descended to get the locos in the correct positions - including to pose those that were to be static displays....
D6948 was to be shunted into the Car Park at Toddington for cab visits and
D8137 and
20228 were to be shunted onto Road 9 so that they could be photographed together in public for the first time. This was to witness possibly the first run of
20228 on GWSR rails since its move from Barry, as Steve decided to use his BR Blue Type 1 as the shunter.
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Class 20, 20228 is fired up. Although still not ready for traffic, owner Steve M took the opportunity to get some running in done using the '20' as yard shunter. (Courtesy of A. Raybould)
 | | 20228 eases over the pointwork in Toddington yard. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
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Although
20228 is not ready for service a short running stint like this would allow Steve to check for any faults that may still be present after work has been done on the loco. It is still hoped that the 'chopper' will be ready for service later in 2022.
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| 20228 eases its larger, louder cousin, D6948 into the car park at Toddington. Steve and Simon are locked in discussion. (Courtesy of A.Raybould) |
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| A sign of things to come! D8137 and 20228 are eased back onto Road 10 ready to be posed for photographers. The hope is that, on special events, the 'choppers' will be paired in multiple to evoke memories of when they worked over the line on coal services. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
Onto the Saturday and Day 1 of the 2021 Gala.
D6948 was being readied to receive its visitors and an impromptu sales stall for the CMDG was set up next to it. The Green Machine's sister,
37215 was already on its way to Winchcombe to pick up the 3rd rake and the remainder of the serviceable locos were being prepped ready to go. The weather hinted at a cracking day - a very unusual event for a Diesel Gala. Perhaps this would lure us all into a false sense of security, as the day certainly wouldn't be all sunshine - even if the weather would be!
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| Low cloud over the Cotswold hills set a very picturesque scene. |
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| Whilst HoD, Andy D wrestled the access steps on the other side I decided to nip round to get a photo of D6948 with the sun on it. Damn the yard light shadow! |
With the steps in place next to D6948 we were open to take visitors. Derek and Mary had opened the CMDG stall and Class 24, 5081, was on its way with the first train south. Star of the show, 47105, was waiting on Siding 1 to take its place on the maroon rake to work the next service south.
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| Steve M and Alex R get 5081 under way on the 0900 to CRC. |
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| Star of the show, 47105 shunts over the pointwork to couple up to the maroon rake in Platform 2. |
With everything seemingly running well, the numbers of cars in the Toddington car park steadily increased and the visitors to the bottom of the car park started to keep myself, Dave S and Andy T busy with questions. However, it wasn't long before the first spanner made its way into the works! Word came through via our Department Whatsapp group that signalling at Gotherington had failed. The Covid layoff has not been good to the signalling at Gotherington and a number of faults have been identified within the box itself. In this instance Stephen H, the rostered Gotherington Signalman, was unable to 'pull off'' signal 4 - the down section signal - and so all Cheltenham bound services would need to be stopped and then authorised to pass the signal at danger. Not a major issue in itself, but would lead to slight delays to services heading south.
Not long afterwards, Richard S, who was rostered as the Driver on 45149, rushed over from the new mess block and asked if anyone knew where the First Aiders were. On asking why, Richard mentioned that Tony R, his Secondman, had had an accident and cut his head open. After treatment, Tony was taken to A&E for his wound to be glued, This meant a new Secondman had to be rostered but the only person available was our HoD, Andy D....who had only just got back from his holiday and was looking forward to a nice relaxing day! So much for easing back into it!
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| With 47105 delayed by the signalling issues at Gotherington and Tony R now at A&E in Tewkesbury, Richard S and Andy D have prepped 45149 ready to drop on the back of the next service to Broadway. In the background 47376 'Freightliner 1995' has just arrived with a southbound service. |
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| 47105 meets sister 47376 at Toddington. |
As often happens in this situation, a certain level of 'gallows humour' begins to permeate and idle talk moved onto what might next go wrong! After all, bad things go in threes, don't they? Little did we know!
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| My stead for the afternoon, although on this run 37215 was in the very capable hands of Mark W. |
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| 47105 (with 45149 on the rear) makes a start for Broadway. 5081 has dropped off the back of 47376 which has departed for Cheltenham. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
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| 45149 brings up the rear. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
After taking the reins of 37215 at 1340, myself and Secondman, Phil S, headed off to Cheltenham. At Gotherington we were stopped by Signalman, Stephen H, at the token exchange platform with 45149 sat in the loop. On the way down Richard S had reported a track defect on the 'main' at Gotherington. For those unfamiliar with the track layout at Gotherington, after the station the track splits into 'main' and 'loop' lines. These were originally placed when the railway reached Gotherington as the terminus before reaching Cheltenham in 2003. The loop would allow locos to run round the stock to head back north. Now, it was a convenient crossing point when running a three or more train timetable. The 'main' line had suffered from subsidence for a little while, but it was not deemed serious with a small dip in the track adjacent to the errant Signal 4. Richard had reported that this had got worse - it had also been reported on the previous Thursday. We were asked to inspect and proceed if considered safe, reporting our findings to Gotherington and Cheltenham signallers. P'way had also been notified and had left a job at Greet tunnel to come and check. Phil and I agreed that we would proceed at walking pace, with Phil on the ground to check for any further movement as the train rolled over. Phil noticed no further movement and so I notified Stephen in Gotherington box and, on arrival at Cheltenham, notified the Signalman there. We were instructed to run round but we would not be released back north until P'Way and Mark Y (DOO for the day) had decided what to do. It would be around 20 minutes before we were released however, P'Way and Mark had agreed that the 'main' would be closed for further inspection and all services would now have to use the 'loop'. This meant that the timetable for Sunday would now need to be hastily rewritten to remove services crossing at Gotheringon as well as a new operation order being issued to notify traincrew of the temporary changes to signalling and operating procedures when passing through Gotherington.
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| Now that the 'main' was closed at Gotherington all services now had to cross at Winchcombe, meaning a long wait for down trains. With yours truly in the Driver's seat of 37215, we cross 5081 with Alex occupying the Secondman's side of the 'Rat's' cab. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
Back at Toddington, Andy D was now liaising with Peter S (who had organised the event and the timetable) and Mark Y to sort out how the timetable for Sunday would operate now that services could not cross at Gotherington. By the end of the day, a new, special timetable had been created but Andy was beginning to feel the strain and was probably wishing he was back on holiday. However, without his dedication - and that of Peter and Mark - the Sunday may well have been caped.
The final service of the day was the 'Beerex' although, with most services returning people back to their starting points later than planned, the 47-hauled service was a little light on travellers. However, after the craziness of the day myself, Alex and Dave S decided we would partake in a rare night-time thunder through the Cotswolds. Its a well known fact that Diesels are always louder in the dark and the GWSR takes on a different aura at night. Personally, I would love to have more later running as it brings a different set of driving challenges, however not everyone is willing to give up a late evening and we are perhaps not at the same level as our friends at the SVR in being able to undertake overnight services - even once in a while.
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| 47105 and 47376 'Freightliner 1995' at Toddington at 2130 on the Saturday night after arrival from Broadway. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
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| The culmination of a very long and eventful (stressful?) Day 1 of the 2021 Diesel Gala. 'H' supervises 47376 and 47105, in the hands of Dave M and Chris W, back into the shed at Toddington. 5081 rests on Road 10 ready for Sunday's services. (Courtesy of A. Raybould) |
Luckily, the Sunday ran reasonably smoothly and certainly didn't have the same 'excitement' of the Saturday. For those of you who like to get rare bits of track into the book, the next few weeks might give you the opportunity of working 'wrong line' (or 'bang road' if that is your preferred parlance) through the loop at Gotherington - not something that passengers would get an opportunity to do under normal circumstances!
A further collection of pictures from Sunday courtesy of Alex Raybould.
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| 45149 awaits the passing of 37215 at Winchcombe. |
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45149 basks in the sun.
 | | 45149 returns down the unloading road after shunting 5081 into the car park ready for its trip up the M5 to Kidderminster. |
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| 5081 sits in the car park as it awaits its chariot to take it for its weekend away at the Severn Valley Diesel Gala next week. |
On Monday, the '24' was picked up by Allely's and tripped up the M5 to our friends at the Severn Valley Railway where she arrived safely. Below is a picture of her loaded and ready to go, courtesy of Kev Jarvis.
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| 5081 all loaded and ready for its journey to Kidderminster. |
Don't forget, the fun doesn't stop just yet for the Diesel fleet. We still have a number of PURPLE timetable days through the end of September and October with the mainline locos operating the last service to/from Cheltenham. We also have the DMU back in action through the week on the BLUE timetable during October. Diesels will also be used on Santa services this year as the track will be lifted beyond the road bridge at Winchcombe to allow works on the bank slip to begin. This means that there will be no run-round facility and so services will be top and tailed with steam and diesel.
Our last 'special event' of the year is the biggy!! The GWSR 40th Anniversary Gala takes place on the 6th and 7th November and will see all motive power resources used on probably the most intensive timetable the railway has had. The DMU will be used on shuttle services, there will be a steam hauled freight as well as an intensive passenger service which, it is hoped, makes the railway seem like it is back to being part of the main network but also offers something for everyone, and a little more. Come and help us all celebrate what was never deemed possible except by a determined few that soon became a determined many! Tickets and further details are available here:
