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

Obviuosly not a loved one of yours who’d gone missing. The family of the missing gentleman would have wanted maximum effort expended in finding him and looks like the police delivered. And dementia sufferers can be a lot more than just “confused”.

 

Betton Grange has now failed. Passengers are cooking on the unit at Gotherington so that will come in to Winchcombe and go straight back out to Cheltenham. From the signaller at Winchcombe.


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Clearly you are not someone with first hand experience of dementia. I hope for your sake you don't ever experience it first hand - if you do you will realise just how insensitive your remark is.
Fortunately the police did realise the potential severity of the situation and reacted proportionately.

 

15189 replaced Betton Grange on the 1350 Toddington to Cheltenham

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Railcar overheated and had to be shunted out the way at Winchcombe. We got held outside on the Caley Tank, with 3850, think the latter is being detached.

 

It's the first time I've done one of these galas for quite a few years, and by 3pm all I had managed to achieve (having arrived at 9am) was Tod-Winch-Tod-Winch.

The hour gap at Winchcombe after 229's return was devoid of anything that I heard and when I went looking for station staff at one point, they seemed to be in absentia. Then where was an announcement saying the train in platform 2 (the delayed 3.22pm, at 4.30pm) would be the last train to Cheltenham, followed by someone on the platform telling me there would actually be two more. A few crossed wires making it very difficult to figure out what was actually happening.

That said, it has been an incredibly taxing day for all, with reports of crew passing out from the heat, so they all have my sympathies and gratitude for pushing on and making the effort to get people home. I hope tomorrow proves to be more successful.

 

Forcast for Cheltenham on Monday 31C, I imagine that will be very taxing for steam loco crews, i wish you the best

 

Wouldn’t want to be manning a steam loco in this weather, least of all the Spam Can.

 

Spam toastie

 

Thing is, they are trying to run 6 sets across 14 miles which I think is too much, when you consider as well Broadway is one loco in steam operation too (with Toddington SB the other side of the station to that section meaning token exchanges take longer).

I stopped attending GWSR galas in 2013 since delays and standing around in loops was just frustrating and boring! The best galas there were the 65min frequency full line with auto & goods Toddington-Winchcombe shuttles.

 

Well I enjoyed myself yesterday. So things didn’t go to plan but I got to see the Caley Tank in its gorgeous new LMS livery and the GER tank was worth the entrance fee on its own.

 

I was quite fortunate with getting behind all the visitors, plus 2807 for the first time to varying degrees over both days (though difficult if doing less that one day). My last train with the Caley Tank was quite busy in the first carriage and was held at Winchcombe for a while despite no movement from 34070 (which we were informed were the crew suffering with heat exhaustion by the guard, so living up to reputation on that somewhat).

The staff at Cheltenham Racecourse seemed confused as to how trains were running back towards Toddington and Broadway after 2807 arrived and the Caley and 3850 T&T departed and somewhat lamenting the lack of information they were receiving (which was a shame given how helpful they'd been at the start of the day).

I'll post some pictures from the last 2 days tomorrow, I still had a good time despite all the various issues, I think the heat probably didn't help operations.

 

An emergency timetable for today has been posted on the 'Cotswold Festival of Steam' Facebook page (but can't find it on the official GWSR page or website.
Hopefully it's legit.)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Dh83grdhU/

****EMERGENCY TIMETABLE****

Following two extremely difficult days, with operational and medical issues for both our volunteers and passengers, the Gala organising team has worked tirelessly this evening to re-write the timetable and crew diagrams.

The safety and welfare of both our volunteers and passengers is paramount in this extremely hot spell of weather. With this in mind, the decision has been taken to rationalise the timetable.

The unfortunate decision has been taken to withdraw the GWR Railcar #22. 6880 Betton Grange has been stopped for an issue with the grate, and 229 may make an appearance at Toddington, subject to crew availability.

We hope this will not impact your enjoyment of the day. Remember, kids go free, too!

The Steam Gala Organising Committee are extremely grateful for the help and support of everyone at the GWSR.

 

I've just checked the new timetable is there any idea if the 9:45 will wait for the shuttle bus before departing as after that it is a 40 minute wait for the goods or an hour and 20 minute wait for the next passenger service

 

Here's some pictures from Saturday. I'll try and post some from yesterday later.

 

The revised TT seems to be holding up well so far. Trains on Toddington - Racecourse section currently within 10 mins of booked time.

 

Considering the heat and associated problems that the organisers and staff have had to deal with this weekend, today's timetable appears to have been well received. After hearing of the poor health of a crew member yesterday, it was imperative that the railway considered the wellbeing of both staff and passengers. Well done to the GWSR, it's a thumbs up from me. [BJ]

 

Some of my pictures from Saturday.

2026-05-23 BR 6880 GWR GRANGE 4-6-0 GWSR - CHICKEN CURVE 26 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 BR 34070 SR BB 4-6-2 GWSR - CHICKEN CURVE 91 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 BR 45110 LMS BLACK 5 4-6-0 GWSR - CHICKEN CURVE 13 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 BR 78022 2MT 2-6-0 GWSR - CHICKEN CURVE 68 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 GER 229 219 CLASS 0-4-0ST GWSR - TODDINGTON 26 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 GER 229 GER 209 CLASS 0-4-0ST GWSR - WINCHCOMBE GWSR 1 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 GWR 3859 2884 2-8-0 GWSR - CHICKEN CURVE 66 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 GWR Nº22 AEC RAILCAR GWSR - WINCHCOMBE 89 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

2026-05-23 LMS 15189 CALEDONIAN RLY 419 0-4-4-T GWSR - CHICKEN CURVE 53 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

 

thanks to the owners and helpers of Gotherington Station who kept passengers sustained with curries cake and drinks the station is lovely to look around

 

And the plucky loco crew who had it the hottest.