GWSR | Cotswold Festival of Steam Gala | 23-25 May 2026

Nobody has. 2008 was when the loco last steamed.

 

Points failure at Cheltenham. Currently no movement. 09.05 departure has not left. Almost 35 minute delay and counting.

 

Finally left at 0945.

Shuttle bus is only a short single decker this year rather than a double.

 

We've not seemed to have had much luck this morning On the bright side, it's a beautiful day, we have a cracking line up, and the goods train is now pretty much as long as Toddington platform

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According to the station staff at Winchcombe the following have been cancelled
1437 Winchcombe to Broadway with 2807 and 1524 return
1646 Winchcombe to Broadway with 15189 and 1740 return

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The 1350 Toddington to Cheltenham had 78022 instead of 15189.

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45110 & 6880 Betton Grange double heading sat in Cheltenham Racecourse waiting for something to arrive, timetable out of the window!!

 

Caley's failed from the sound of it, it was still with 78022 heading for Broadway, but it was just 78022 on arrival at Winchcombe, which I then took to Cheltenham Racecourse.

 

78022 arrived Toddington from Broadway t&t with the Caley. After taking water, 78022 headed south on its own and the Caley headed off l/e towards the shed. After that I drove to Winchcombe to watch the GER coffee pot potter around before heading home so don’t know what happened to the Caley in the end.

 

I'm not sure what happened with the Caley in the end or what the failure was, apparently there was another points issue up the line after I got to Cheltenham with 78022, but can't have been too major as the Railcar arrived, 78022 headed back and then Manston arrived before running round. I got on the bus as that was happening and a few got in from the freight. Apparently there was a line side fire earlier in the day too.

Still had an enjoyable day though, ticked off 229 on the afternoon shuttle (certain has some guts with 3 coaches), 78022, 2807 (having failed both days last year) and my first run to Broadway was with Manston. Hoping to catch 45110 tomorrow (and the Caley if it's able to be fixed).

 

Whatever it was, you gotta admit she was looking pretty wonderful.

 

Not sure how to upload a video while I’m only using my mobile so here’s the link
https://railway-photography.smugmug...y-2026/Cotswold-Festival-of-Steam/i-k8cPxfr/A

45110 double heading with Betton Grange at Cheltenham Racecourse

 

There were multiple small fires in places where they shouldn't be to deal with as well at about the time 78022 was at Toddington taking over from the failed Caley

 

GWSR having no luck today. There has just been another points failure at Cheltenham resulting in 3850 departing on the 1755 1hr 50 min late.

 

The Gold Leaf numbering certainly popped as it was waiting under the road bridge at Toddington earlier, a very lovely livery, as has 229. Fingers crossed it's not a major issue

 

I could be wrong, but someone told me that it was a problem with the air pump that is now fixed.

 

*delete*

 

Thanks to the organisers and volunteers for their time and efforts into putting the event on. The guests were great and made for an enjoyable enough day. One thing that does need to get better, however is the communication to passengers regarding the delays and subsequent cancellations. There was none, resulting in having to check here and social media to find out what was going on.

The GWR rail car really looks at home on the railway.

 

I really enjoyed the day despite the delays. I've learned over the years not to get too worried about these things and go with the flow. It was just unfortunate that a whole number of things combined to completely wreck the timetable. I had a long conversation with one of the volunteers which was interesting and shed some light on just how much detailed planning and paperwork goes into scripting an event like this. His point was that it really tests everyone out when on a normal running day all they have to do is run two trains which is a lot less stressful. He made the point that I have made before in that they are "between a rock and a hard place" in that if the timetable is over-ambitious things can go badly wrong and if it is not, people say it is boring (like the West Somerset's hourly timetable from a few years ago). Anyway I'm sure everyone tried their best and their efforts are much appreciated. Anyway it was great to see all the locos and the diesel railcar. OK, so it's not steam but it's a genuine GWR vehicle so I like it!