16 posts tagged “gwr”

The Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway held their Autumn Diesel Gala on November 3rd this year.  Unfortunately I was not rostered on the trains so I was able to take some photos and video.  In fact I spent most of the time taking video with a Canon HV20 high definition video camera.  I have just finished editing the video in iMovie on my MacPro and have produced two sequences, one based at Toddington and the other at Winchcombe.  The Toddington video shows 47105, 37215, 24081, and D8137 in action.  The Winchcombe sequence shows 37324, D8137, 24081 and 47105.

I shot four short videos using my still cameras yesterday at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway which was holding a Diesel Gala.  No visiting engines because of date conflicts with other railways, but we did have all our diesel engines running (except 24081 which is in for repairs).  I took lots of photos with my Sony H9 in continuous shoot mode which means I've got to spend ages selecting the best shots - so they'll be uploaded later.  Here are the videos from my YouTube and embedded for those that don't yet appear in the YouTube search box:

Here's some video I took at the recent Cotswold Festival of Steam at the GWR (see below).  I took more but haven't been able to edit or convert it so that it's less than 100Mb for YouTube.  If you search on YouTube for GWR or for steam, you'll find lots more video - or do a search for the engines I named in my post about the festival, eg Green Arrow and Wadebridge and Black Prince.

Last weekend was the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway's Gala weekend called the Cotswold Festival of Steam - rather grandiose title since their were not the traction engines or other steam driven machines that sometimes can be seen at these gala events.  But there were plenty of engines, and unusual ones for the GWR.  I started taking photos at the Cheltenham Racecourse station where I saw the Green Arrow, a 2-6-2 tender engine from the LNER, which never travelled on these rails before - a smaller version of the big Gresley pacifics, but with the same look and in the same apple green.  Waiting in platform 2 was a Southern Railway loco, Wadebridge which took the train back to Toddington while Green Arrow watered at the temporary watering point.  There was also a Great Western saddle tank  giving brake van rides up and down the platform.

I then went to Toddington, the base for the GWR, where there was the huge P & O in the car park along with a pannier  tank.  In steam and waiting for action was a lovely old engine from the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.  I also saw Wadebridge pulling a goods train and Green Arrow watering, with a prairie tank pulling the GWR autocoach to Toddington and back.

I just came across this video on my computer, made from a number of photos taken when my mum came with me for a ride on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, back on 15th April 2004.  You can compare what she looks like then (before her cancer surgery) and what she looks like now in a recent vox post.  As a matter of interest, it shows little tank engine "King George" rescuing the big Brush type 4 diesel electric loco 47376 when it failed.

This afternoon I went to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, but instead of working on my engine,I took photos of all the fun and games going on.  It was a Thomas Event, when the railway is transformed into the set from Rev W Audrey's Thomas the Tank Engine series - much loved by children of all ages. We had Thomas, of course, but also Gordon and Henry,along with the Fat Controller and Diesel.  I've uploaded lots of photos in the collection alongside.

Over the last six years I have been rebuilding an old diesel engine at weekends with a team of blokes from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.  The class 26 engine, a Sulzer type 2, is owned by the Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group, of which I am a shareholder and first came to the GWR in 1994.  The bodywork was initially pretty good but has deteriorated since being kept in the open. The engine is still good and works well, but all the control gear was destroyed when the loco was being checked for asbestos just before it was bought by us.  I have been working on the body, painting and repairing or replacing the metalwork.  Others have been concentrating on the control gear and rebuilding the cabs.  One cab has been almost completed but the second still needs a lot doing to it.  Here's all my photos in one collection and there are more photos on the CMDG site.  When I started work on the engine I was told "another 2 years work" and it'll be ready - I think we're still saying the same 6 years later!

This afternoon I was on the trains again at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway this time on a class 37, 37324 shown above.  It was quite an adventure.  First we had to get the engine out of the loco yard by using the South Ground Frame, but initially the signalman would not give us permission because he said a train was coming in. But in fact it wasn't due for another 15 minutes which was enough time for us to get out of the yard and park up in platform 2 whilst the incoming train went into platform 1.  The signalman slowed us down though be cause he set the ground signal against us so we had to phone up to get permission to pass it. 

Once we were on our way, we found the the train was not accelerating well, in fact it was slowing down even when under power.  Conclusion - the guard had forgotten to "pull the strings" which means releasing the vacuum brakes on all of the coaches.  So when we got to Winchcombe, the driver ran down the length of the train pulling the strings.  This is necessary since the coaches had been hauled by a steam engine which produced a greater vacuum than our diesel engine, so the brakes were not releasing fully.  Pulling the strings allows the cylinder pressures to equalise, and the brakes to release properly.

On our way again we arrived at Bishops Cleeve, to find an old man walking along the track.  We had to stop, remonstrate with the man (which made no difference - he totally ignored us), call the police who didn't manage to arrest the man, then we were on our way again and arriving at Cheltenham about 20 minutes late.  We ran round the train and coupled up quickly to get away again, but had to wait for the signalman who was closing down the box and then riding back with us on the train to Toddington.  We made good time back from Cheltenham and saw our random walker in the field by the side of the the railway line.  We departed only ten minutes late from Winchcombe but as we neared Toddington the signalman set the ground signal against us just as we arrived at it, necessitating a quick stop and a phone call to find out what was going on.  No reason given.

Once we got to Toddington, I took over the driving and took the engine back to the loco yard through the south ground frame.  It all adds to the excitement - which was first the roar of the engines as 2000HP accelerated a 500ton train into the tunnel just south of Winchcombe.  By the time we left the tunnel, it felt like we were going like a rocket.

This last weekend was Diesel Gala on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway and I was rostered on the class 20 diesel as second man (driver's assistant).  That's my engine above. My first job was to set the points out of the loco yard and then open up the south ground frame with permission from the signal box.  This is a crossing onto the main line so needs some care. We then took the 20 out of the yard over the south ground frame (because the yard is being relaid so the number 1 siding was filled with engines and stock) and then went light engine to Winchcombe to collect the first rake of coaches.  They should have been in the platform but were in the yard instead so it took us longer to fetch them than expected - we have to go from the platform into the yard, couple up, drag the coaches into the platform, uncouple, run round and couple up again.  Of course every time we uncouple, we have to make sure the handbrake is screwed down so the coaches don't run away - Winchcombe station is on a 1:200 grade. Then we hauled them back to Toddington platform 1 to form the first departure of the day.  We then drew the second set of coaching stock into platform 2 from the north head shunt for the local train to Winchcombe.

The day carried on with trips to Winchcombe with the local passenger train and also with a goods train, and the long run to Cheltenham Racecourse and back.  We had a couple of showers and a hailstorm but mostly it was a good sunny day with photographers out in force and al the trains packed with people.  A successful day.

It was particularly good for me because often when I'm on duty, I just assist,doing all the second-man stuff, but this time I was allowed to drive  - I drove the engine light, and in the yard,  and I even drove a goods train.  Great fun.

This afternoon for our Sunday walk, we decided to walk around the same sort of area, though not as far, as the students from school had walked a couple of weeks ago - see this post.  We parked at Hailes Abbey and walked across the fields to Didbrook, then through the village and across the fields, almost to Stanway village, but we turned left to Toddington station and had a drink and a cake in the cafe there.  Then we walked alongside the railway line all the way past Didbrook to the Hailes road and then along the road back to the car.  The weather was cool and generally overcast although the sun did come out by about 4.30pm.  We probably walked 4 to 5 miles in total, but it was a relaxed low speed walk.  We're going to Austria mountain walking in the summer so we better improve our level of fitness by then.