10 posts tagged “train”

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:

37324 & 37219 at GWR Diesel Gala June 2007

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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.

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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.

Toddington

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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.

Toddington

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20070325 Didbrook Walk

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.

Enjoy the photos!

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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.

Last Friday I was on the trains again as Second-man on the 1615 service from Toddington to Cheltenham and back.  Weather was poor, and there were not all that many passengers.

Next weekend is the last chance we have to finish the paintwork on the class 26 engine I and others have been rebuilding at the Gloucester and Warwickshire Railway.  Next weekend it will be moved out of the engine shed and will languish in the yard, where no doubt the weather will begin to reveal the flaws in the paintwork, which is why it is so vital to get it all finished now.  There is still some more work on the electrical rebuild in the cabs which will continue in the yard.  Along with that will be internal paintwork.

So here are some photos of it in its current state, showing lots of areas where paint is still needed.