GWSR Cotswold festival of steam 26-28 May 2018

Arrived at a misty and murky Toddington around 10, car park nearly full! Looks busier than last couple of years.

 

Thats how to run a Gala. Like clockwork from start to when 7903 was taken off the train at 1440 for reasons unknown. Enough resiliency in the timetable to recover from this though. Other lines can learn from this. 6023 star of the show but felt like a caged lion roaring to escape. Very busy trains and standing only on some but what a wonderful day. Well worth our long drive. Hope you got your bacon roll and wagon wheels our new found friends from near to Northampton! Thanks to all at the GWR for their hard work

 

What an incredible first day! I didn't see a single empty compartment or seating bay until about 5pm, and we must have broken the Guinness world record for number of people squeezed into a 3-car DMU! We had a new excuse from Cheltenham for a late-departing train at the end of the day; the clerks were still totting up numbers as so many people had come through.

As you can see below, the weather started very misty but brightened up by mid afternoon:























Looking forward to seeing some footage of this evening's train, I was tempted to stay on but with 3 long days still to go I thought I better get home not too late.

 

Thanks for posting those great images.

Regards

46118

 

Yes - really good day. Weather brightened up, almost every train was rammed full, beer from Goffs brewery was good, everyone seemed to be in a good mood. What's not to like? Oh well the pannier dragging that horrible DMU around, but apart from that it was great!

Stars of the show for me were 6023, 35006 and our course my old friend 70013. Still not a great fan of the S160 but had a ride behind it and got a couple of decent photos of it too. It certainly sounds good!

Hope 7903 is OK - as Don said it got removed from the Manor/Hall double-header early and was put over the pit with various crew members peering underneath it.

 

I doubt anyone's a great fan but hopefully you can understand the rationale when you saw the number of visitors we had and the fact that every serviceable coach was running today!

Yes I quite agree, it's an ugly bugger but for a change I do like the noise it makes!

 

I had a fantastic day at the GWSR today, I can scarcely believe the degree to which the weather improved from am to pm. I got the second train from Todd to Cheltenham and we had a lengthy stop at Gotherington which had me in mind of Edward Thomas and Adlestrop - I even started writing a few stanzas of my own. (Who knows, I may share them here). Later on I had a fascinating visit to the C&W works at Winchcombe and very interesting chat about Monsters, Mogos and Guvs, and some very fine beer in the beer tent.

A thoroughly enjoyable day at a terrific line. Star of the show for me was the Merchant Navy and the (VERY, VERY, VERY BEAUTIFUL) S160 from my own, native, Churnet Valley Railway - she takes a bit of getting used to, but she's a terrific engine). Many thanks from me to those who made this day go so very well.

 

We arrived just in time to get the 09:00 from Toddington, and even managed to get seats! Many of the trains were standing room only.
Thankfully, the slightly damp and murky weather was replaced by some warmth and sunshine later on in the day.

 

We had a wonderful day at the GWSR today. Weather was "atmospheric" indeed to start with but then improved. Staff were very polite and friendly to us (even to me - OK I do know a few of them from the past!) and we would have liked to have stayed longer but a quick look at my old home village near Bourton on the Water beckoned then the drive back to North Yorkshire. I'm biased but 2807 looked splendid at Winchcombe today. Having seen photos of Britannias on the line in BR days, it was fantastic to travel to and from Broadway by 70013. My partner liked the Pannier and DMU set as the views from the windows seemed better to her. Thank you. It was a grand day out.

 

My video from the first day in some rather changeable weather ranging from rain to sun. An excellent event put on by the railway.

 

A clip from my forthcoming video of the Gala. Double Header, 7820 Dinmore Manor and 6023 King Edward II:

 

My footage of the first day running from misty and murky morning to a sunny afternoon and quite a pleasant evening. The Manor and King Double header was the highlight of the day for me, as well as The King and Oliver Cromwell (T&T) on a much shorter evening special service compared to previous galas. Enjoy.

 

Oliver Cromwell leaving Broadway with a packed train (and Dinmore trailing behind)


It was the first time I had seen a Brit - I like the whistle, esp the couple of freebies at the end (no SW sign there, just for fun!)

 

6023 was finally let off the leash this afternoon leaving Broadway, the poor Hall looked like it was clinging on for dear life on the back! The 15 minute deficit was nearly all clawed back by Toddington. It really is a beast of an engine, just hope it's chance on the mainline comes next ticket. The acceleration is phenomenal.

Great gala, excellent line up of locos and looked to be well rewarded too. The extension to Broadway really does complete this line and has now promoted it to premier league status. The station still has work to do, but even now oozes charm and distinction. Really will be one of our best heritage stations when done, the attention to detail is superb. The extension is lovely too, pleasant countryside and allows the locos to stretch their legs.

Much of the late running seems to be because 70013 was allowed the same time to reverse at Broadway as the other T+T trains, but had to run round, was this deliberate? Also a frustrating delay of 25 mins on the already late last train into Toddington as stock was shunted, but I am sure these issues will be ironed out in future. This didn't detract from a fantastic gala though, well done all.

 

I don't know how I manage it, but once again today the Sun almost completely evaded me whenever I ventured out of the works. Still, a few more from various spots around Winchcombe, looked slightly quieter today, probably partly due to the falsely pessemistic forecast (I was looking forward to some thunderstorms as well!) Tomorrow hopefully I might get some elsewhere on the line if I've got time. I also make no apology for the fact that Cromwell looks great from any angle IMO.

 

Is gotherington open to the public for the cafe or just ticket only

 

I think it was a blanket forecast across the region to cover themselves as they couldn't predict exactly where the storms would be. Certainly Birmingham got a lot of rain yesterday.

 

Can anyone please tell me which trains 6023 is hauling today? Thanks in advance.

 

According to the timetable on their website all that is left today for the King is 17:04 from Cheltenham double headed with the Manor.
It is also added to rear of 14:48 from Toddington to Broadway which becomes the 15:15 to Cheltenham

 

Thank you for that information. Much appreciated.