11 posts tagged “railway”

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've just been checking my YouTube videos to see how the view counts are going - it often surprises me what other people want to see - the same as in flickr.  So here's the top few - actually the first and most popular is a bit of a cheat because although it was my MacPro being unwrapped, the video was filmed and edited by my friend Rupert and put up on his YouTube  (1,112 views):

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For the last half year I have been uploading photos to flickr with varying degrees of interest from other people.  I have now got nearly 7,000 photos online and have had nearly 15,000 views.  My most popular photo (a lady surfer) has had over 1300 views - my least popular photos have zero views!  And there are other sources of interest.  The photo above (of Crystal Pier, Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA) has been included in Schmap's guide to San Diego.  The photo below (or the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway at Toddington,UK) has been included in a UK and Ireland photo blog.

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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.

Finally I went to Winchcombe station where the Prairie had arrived and a beautiful blue engine pulled in from Cheltenham - you can see some children getting their hands dirty in the cab.  Wadebridge also arrived from Toddington on her way to Cheltenham.  Quite a busy days trains - see the latest collection of photos form more shots.

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.

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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.

I had a difficult morning at school yesterday, so in the afternoon I went to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway,  The line runs fromToddington through Didbrook and Hailes to Winchcombe, then through Gretton, Gotherinton and Bishops Cleeve to Cheltenham (Racecourse) a distance of 13 miles and includes a tunnel through the hills at Greet.  The GWR is run by volunteers (like me) and uses old engines and stock as well as old buildings etc.  I've shown you pictures of the main station at Toddington before but this time I decided to travel on the train to Cheltenham Racecourse and back.I sat in the restaurant car and had a coffee and toasted teacake and took some photos of the scenery as it went past.  A nice relaxing afternoon after a stressful week at work.  Here are some of the photos taken from the train.

The train was steam hauled - 92203 Black Prince was on the front.  At Toddington they were still digging up the engine sidings and there was a strange diesel on a Growler Group special.