GWSR Cotswold Festival of Steam 'Cheltenham & Gloucester Steam Days' 12-14 May

Some more shots, the weather this afternoon a lot better than the morning!

 

One from my Father, had a lovely message from him telling me how much he was enjoying himself…
Cheers Dad, some of us are at work

 

I attended on Friday and struggled a bit with the uneven intervals in the timetable. But finding myself stranded for a while at Toddington, I enjoyed a trip on the narrow-gauge line.

The trains on Friday were mostly running within a few minutes of their scheduled times, with my final return to Cheltenham being just 9 minutes late. The longest delay that I noticed was from No 11243 on the 16.10 Winchcombe to Toddington. In spite of being given express headlamps, it seemed in no hurry to get moving.

 

Great day yesterday. Railway was comfortably busy so hopefully the event has been a financial success. Lots to see and do and a huge number of visible volunteers necessary to put on such an event. Locomotive crews were friendly and happy to provide footplate visits. Thanks to all who made the event possible.

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Another one from my Dad’s Skiing day out…
Say hello to Hinton O’Manor

 

Three from Saturday afternoon near Gotherington.7903 running as 6999,piloting 4079 ,13.23 from Cheltenham ..78019 12.28 from Broadway ..31806 /7820 13.30 also from Broadway.

 

I'd like to mention the goods train - it looked wonderful. Many thanks to the folk that have restored the wagons and keep them up together. <BJ>

 

Been a great gala on this happy, relaxed and friendly line. Brought a friend along who hadn’t attended a GWSR event before - he thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely visit again. Stand out for me was 31806 which really has some gusto and the Pug which is mesmerising as it shuffles around. Also a privilege to be able to ride behind as historic a loco as 4079 on a genuine Great Western mainline. Enjoyed talking to the various owning groups in the engine shed and the guy manning the viaduct appeal stall at Winchcombe. Every single member of staff ’ I talked to was professional, enthusiastic and engaging - a credit to the line. Obviously spent on food, secondhand books and put coins in various collection buckets. Great Railway the GWSR that deserves to do well and hasn’t succumbed to feeling ‘corporate’.

 

That's very kind of you Mike, thank you!

 

Fabulous day today, wonderful selection of locomotives, all worth seeing and hearing in their own different ways. The timetable slipped by 15-20 minutes fairly early on, but only another 5-10 minutes had been lost by the time I left at around 4:30. Countering the earlier comment, I really enjoyed the variety in the timetable, although it does need a bit of studying and seemed to have a few of the "general public" somewhat bemused at times. In particular, the Pug's trip from Toddington in mid-afternoon left the Castle standing at Toddington for a prolonged period. Even the station staff were preparing the train to leave and looking quizzically at the signal whilst, stood on the footbridge, I could see the Pug just leaving the siding (unseen by most) to trundle ahead of us to Winchcombe. Maybe more announcements are needed to keep people informed as to what's happening.

Highlights were the southbound ride through the tunnel behind the Castle this afternoon, and an unexpected bonus brakevan ride with the Pug at Winchcombe (very much a case of being in the right place at the right time). A special mention for 78019 too, which makes a great sound. I'd also echo the earlier comment about how wonderful the goods train looks.

Thank you to everyone involved in planning, organising and running the event.

 

I had a great day myself as well. I used the free bus service from Evesham, without which I couldn't have attended (normally walk in through Cheltenham but engineering works made that impossible). I was the only one on the bus, which I feel is partly down to the lack of publicity for it. I took the U boat to Toddington, had a good wander about (so many stalls, and loved the large scale model railway in the engine shed running below a full-sized locomotive's frame and then through its cylinder), and a ride on the narrow gauge. Then a quick hot dog before hoping behind the Hall to Gotherington to look around the rarely open station (and I have a nice bowl of chicken curry too). It was a real treat to watch the castle pass through non-stop and accelerate away. Then boarded the hall's return trip to Broadway. I had intended to get off at Wincombe too but the timetable was about 25 mins behind and the bus timetable that didn't leave much wiggle room which meant I retreated.

At points in the day you'd have four large tender locos in steam at Toddington, plus traction engines in the narrow gauge, a real festival of steam and a credit to the line.

 

That was really the point I was making - I am well used to gala timetables but I found it hard to get my head around this one so the general public must indeed have been a bit bemused. The colour coding of the various train sets was a very good idea, but all the "loco on/off" movements at Toddington were a bit difficult to follow as it wasn't always clear whether a train would be double-headed or top & tailed. I worked it all out in the end!
Operation wise I'm sure everyone did their best but when you hear the staff asking each other what's supposed to happen next you feel it's all a bit over-complicated.

 

I think we're all a bit exhausted now! Thanks so much to everyone who came along and supported us this weekend, it really means a lot. Glad to hear everyone had a good time, and thanks for sharing the photos and videos, keep them coming - sometimes we're so busy we don't get a chance to step back and appreciate the spectacle, so it's great to see it from your lenses. That said, I managed to thoroughly drink in the experience of guarding that evening goods train, an unforgettable experience.

Addressing a couple of the comments on the timetable, much of the delays could be attributed to a particular shunting manoeuvre involving splitting and joining set 3. Apart from that we think the timetable worked relatively well, noting on Friday we only finished 10 down when we didn't have to do the joining move in the morning. On Saturday sheer number of people did slow us down, a nice problem to have! Definitely some learning points for next time - having 2 goods trains and a non stop train all through Winchcombe in the same direction one after another was perhaps not the best idea, but on the whole, we do want to stick to that general 5 train service pattern. Any suggestions for how I can tabulate that better for the public timetable will be carefully considered though.

 

Hopefully next time there won't be any pesky strikes in the way.

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Another great day yesterday had here. In particular I’d like to call out the signalman at Broadway for his very cheery and comprehensive talk about the box and signalling principles in general. Good to see the C&W works as well.

My only quibble with the timetabling yesterday (and several others as well), was that the U-boat and Merchant double-header departure from Toddington was bowled by the Pug rolling forward into the goods bay with its wagons! Given that it had sat next to the shed for the last however many 10’s of minutes, and then sat in the bay for another 10, waiting 30s to let the gallery lined up along the fence watch the Southern pairing depart wouldn’t have affected the timetable I’d have thought.

 

I think you've identified the 2 main problems from Saturday so as you say, lessons learned for next time! I can have a think about how the timetable could be better tabulated but I'm wondering whether you are going to be doing things a little differently once the Broadway signalbox is working. For example will it still be necessary to have trains topped and tailed between Broadway and Toddington?

Anyway well done to you and your colleagues for a spectacular show as ever. I think I've been to every Cotswold Festival of Steam apart from one and they've all been great. The railway has made some great progress over the years and it's always a great line to visit.