Cholsey and Wallingford

That assumes that the host railway actually have steam qualified crews available. There are, I think, quite a few heritage railways that have no home based steam locos, and hence little chance for their footplate crews to gain the necessary experience. Those must by necessity rely on the support staff for any hired in steam locos to provide the crew (accompanied of course by local train crew acting as pilot men).
All a bit chicken and egg. . .

 

5197 waits just outside Wallingford for the show to start.

 

08507 waiting for the right away.

 

Full marks to the C&W (and supporting bodies). We saw the Polar Express Thur night (16:12) and mightily impressed - with the loco and the wider set-up. Tried to book a month ago but too late even then. Will sort a donation as the memory of the S160 chuffing away from Cholsey in the dark will stay with me for a long time. Volunteers friendly as ever and handing out 2022 leaflets. My shot below.

 

This is a good move. Next there will be a big great western visiting. That will be a thing to see

 

Sadly we have had to cancel the last 5 days of Polar because of Covid and the significant staffing issues it is causing. A dissapointing end to what has overall been an excellent year for the C&WR, with the vast majority of trains sold out and record turnover from operations. Plans are already progressing for Polar to return in 2022, along with a slightly increased and more predictable main running season which starts in April. Plenty of sleepers to change between now and then though!

 

The C&WR Twitter has pictures of 'Northern Gas Board No. 1' arriving
https://twitter.com/CWRailway/status/1555304538042687491

 

The Cholsey and Wallingford has all the of its Gronks running tomorrow. Trains from 11am, buy online or tickets available on the day.

https://www.cholsey-wallingford-railway.com/2022-events-and-timetable

Tickets are valid on the first train you buy a ticket for and later trains subject to space.

 

Cholsey & Wallingford have hired a couple of carriage from the LNERCA for the Polar Express trains
https://twitter.com/CWRailway/status/1595106316602970112

Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk

 

And 5526 from The South Devon is hauling them! Here is the train out on a rehearsal run on Tuesday afternoon. We start welcoming over 28,000 passengers from Thursday! (Photo: A Stead)

 

Another one from A Stead of 5526 pulling away from Church Bridge in Cholsey. The first train of happy paying passengers have just been taken to the North Pole. Plenty more over the next 4 weeks, during which we're running over 100 trains!

Lots of exciting developments at Wallingford in the pipeline, which Polar helps pay for. I'll try to do a more detailed post after Christmas. In the meantime if you want a monthly news digest email from us then sign up for 'Bunk Extra' here https://mailchi.mp/4ae2b6e42bb6/sign-up-to-bunk-extra

 

Some impressive drone footage of 5526 was shot this afternoon by Niall Hammond.

The train has just passed under Church Bridge at Cholsey and is heading down what we know as 'sewer straight' with Manor Farm in the background, heading towards Wallingford.

https://youtu.be/Ev1CQ4FYwgs

 

Quick update on work taking place during the closed season at Wallingford. Several hundred tons of new ballast have been dropped on the line since Christmas, mainly to improve the shoulder along the line. Work continues on overhauling our TSO so we can again run 3 coach trains this summer. We recently aquired a new BSK and work has started on the overhaul of it. 08022 'Lion' is recieving some much needed attention, with major work taking place on the injectors and radiator. Lots of bodywork has been removed which will be shotblasted and repainted off site. The main project has been widening the platform at Wallingford closest to the buffer stops. A new retaining wall has been built and a couple of attractive flowerbeds constructed. Yesterday the new area was tarmacked which will be a huge improvement - see picture below. First trains on Easter Sunday...

 

That flyash platform surface was a nightmare if you had to paint anything

 

Is there any updates on progress, I believe that some more coaches were obtained recently !!

 

We have recently taken delivery of Class 121 'Bubblecar' 55034 on loan from LSL, for which we are very grateful. She was based at Reading for a time during her career, so is not stranger to Cholsey, but we don't think has ever been on the Wallingford branch. This is the first time we have had a DMU on the line in preservation and presents us with a number of exciting opportunities - more on those to be announced soon! She will make her passenger debut tomorrow, Saturday 15th June, running an hourly serivce in connection with Wallingford Carnival - 1100-1600 from Wallingford and 1130-1630 from Cholsey. No need to book - just turn up and pay on the day.

Here is a picture of her in the bay at Cholsey during crew training runs, which I think shows why we are quite excited about her arrival!

 

An image has been shared on Cholsey's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1235483474437253&set=a.664769241508682

Any ideas of what loco it could be?

 

A clue in there of 022 but nothing I can think of matches.

 

I was going to say it might be Dinmore Manor making a fly by visit as she be in the area, but they said nope to that.