The weekend just gone was unseasonably warm giving one last hurrah for those enjoying their 'staycations' before the kids go back to school. This meant that numbers at the railway were, again, pretty good and encouraging from a financial point of view. The preceding week was also pretty busy and even saw an impromptu diesel turn on Thursday, 2nd September when the rostered steam engine, 7820 'Dinmore Manor' failed on shed. Although 45149 was rostered to work the final trip, the booked crew were not present to get it prepped so 37215, along with Kev J, was pressed into service for the whole day and the 'Peak' missed out. However, the weekend was all 'Peak' action with the Saturday PURPLE and Sunday PINK timetables both rostered for 45149.
On Saturday, I was rostered with our Traction Inspector, Tony B, to take on the last round trip. The 'Peak' is currently running on one compressor after the failure of its second one a couple of weekends ago and so prepping took a little longer than we thought as we waited for the air to build sufficiently. Despite this, and a little (non-loco related) issue leaving Broadway, the loco worked without problem...as it also did on the Sunday.
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| On arrival at Broadway, 45149 awaits the return to Cheltenham. |
On arrival at Broadway there was a regular visitor sat next to the station building...
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| Former LT Routemaster, RL2478. Complete with bicycle 'friend'. |
On getting home, I was met with a fantastic comparison of how the railway looked in 1967 and how it looked on Saturday. Whilst on duty with P'Way, Andrew Stratford had taken a photo of 45149 heading past the temporary speed restriction at Station Road bridge, Bishops Cleeve on its way to Cheltenham and posted it on social media. This was followed by a post from long time department member/supporter, Tom Cullimore, containing a photo from the collection of the late Bill Potter. This photo showed D86 (later fellow ETH fitted, 45105) passing the exact same spot with a Derby to Bristol TM working on the 28 May 1967....54 years earlier! Both pictures are posted below, courtesy of Andrew and Tom. Thanks chaps.
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45149 on 04/09/2021.
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The yard at Toddington was rather busy on Saturday with lots going on as usual around the Class 26 and on the Class 47's. Dave M and Ian R were busy with some minor maintenance tasks on 47105 in readiness for its upcoming use during the week and over the weekend.
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| A hark back to any BR depot in the 1980s. 47105 and 37215, both with domino headcodes, sit at the front of the diesel shed. |
Work on the Class 26 was back in the hands of Dave S, Gareth J and Ian C. Dave had finished the repairs and restorations on the fibre glass roof section which was laid out between 47105 and 37215 (you can just see it in the photo above) to rest and harden. The roof section has had the corners repaired with new fibre glass whilst the whole section has been recovered in resin to stave off water ingress. Gareth was back to the sanding whilst Dave carried on with some of the outstanding welding.
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| D5343 sits in the David Page Shed as work continues on the body work. |
The loco has also had a start made with priming the body sides as the metal work is smoothed down and filler added where necessary. The loco's tenure in the DP Shed is slowly coming to an end so the race is on to make it water tight for the winter.
Elsewhere in the yard, a couple of Mk.1 coaches had turned up. One, 25646 'Tina' the former Steam Department mess coach, has been sold and is due to leave the railway soon to become a Café at Lyme Regis. This was parked in the Parlour siding next to Toddington Station. This has been shunted out from its resting place next to the Goods Shed on siding 2. God only knows how long it had been there! We also had another in the yard. SK 25501, which is off to become an 'orangery/lounge....apparently!
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| SK 25501 waits for the off to its new home. |
The DMU's have also been seeing some significant work, particularly with efforts to get L425 ready for its first use since 2019. The Class 117 set has had some attention to its body work to ward off some of the corrosion that has appeared whilst it has languished in the yard. It will need an FTR exam and a spruce up before its first run out at the end of September to allow the Traction Inspectors to get back into competence for assessing the Drivers for the upcoming services in October.
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| The Class 117 set basks in the glorious September sun. It returns to action in October on our BLUE off-peak timetable. |
The Class 122, W55003, has also had work continuing on it. Kevin and Richard glued up a few more of the window frames before modifying the jig to suit the smaller half windows. These are the last ones to glue. Bryan worked on fitting nut inserts to the doors to secure the new door panels. Spare Class 117, DMBS, W51360, also received some anti corrosion work courtesy of Tom. Photos below are courtesy of the GWSR DMU Group Facebook site.
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| W51360 receives some of the anti-corrosion treatment. |
On Sunday and Monday, Class 20, D8137 was prepped and the Traction Motor install was completed using the A-Frame in the David Page shed. The bogie was shunted into the shed before the traction motor was manoeuvred in to position. Loco owner Steve M, ably assisted by Kev J and Mark E, had the motor in by the end of the day. It is now hoped that, with successful proving, the loco can be reunited with its bogies and a full test can be done before the end of the year. Below are some pictures, courtesy of Kev Jarvis, of the lift.
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| Steve M prepares the axle and motor gearing ready to receive the traction motor. |
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| The motor is carefully lifted and moved into position. |
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| The motor in situ. Plenty is still to be done before testing can take place. |
Finally, a reminder the the weekend of 25/26 September sees our Diesel Gala featuring all of our serviceable home fleet. We will also have cab visits with D6948 in Toddington Car Park, as well as having D8137 and 20228 posed in the yard for photographs. Details are on the GWSR website including ticket booking, the timetables and loco rosters.
