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

Rather mixed feelings about today at GWSR. The event attracted my for three things - the GWR Railcar, GER229 and the Caley tank. Being greeted with an emergency timetable which removed two of those three things wasn't good. The operation had been stripped back to extreme simplicity - Caley tank shuttling between Toddington and Broadway, and the rest running Toddington - Cheltenham. I guess it's probably as good as it was going to get in the circumstances. The ticket price was, I felt, very fair even for the stripped-back event, there's a lesson for certain Porthmadog-based railways.

The Stanway Steam event across the road was simply embarrassing. A huge field with very little in it, and virtually deserted even at 1230. I assume this event is independent of the railway?

 

Family visited on Saturday, very much enjoyed the Steam at Stanway event (which, Mr Serpahim is a very new event run by some young enthusiastic folk who have learned a lot and will grow and improve next year). When they wanted to go for a cuppa and bite at Toddington, were told that they needed to buy a railway ticket at £40 each for access to the site. Given that they;d run with the railcar three weeks ago, they didn't really want to travel. So in the absence of site or platform tickets, they went home. They'll be back for certain, but also hope that the platform access option is something for the future.

 

I would have thought that the Bulleid was a tad warmer. [BJ]

 

Some photos from yesterday. After the delays yesterday I had to abandon my plans to visit Gotherington station, so still haven't had a chance to visit it , hopefully I can finally sort that out next time I visit.

 

I think given the heat, a crew member falling seriously ill yesterday, and the issues the GWSR faced, the emergency timetable was by far the right cause of action. The Caley at least ran today, and the Coffee Pot did venture out a bit in the afternoon. But as its movements freed up paths for the main services, I'm not surprised it was removed. Plus, it was crew shortages that led to it being pulled.

The Railcar was unbearably hot, so again right to remove. I think the GWSR deserve a lot of credit for reacting so fast and getting a new timetable out, that did work well given the circumstances and could even be a good baseline for them in the future.

I've been involved in galas where things have gone awry etc and its stressful for all concerned. And they still put on a very good show today.

 

Would like to add to the above and say well done to the GWSR gala team for getting a solid timetable in place for today, and for all your efforts this weekend. Yes, as a punter, the delays and lack of communication could sometimes be frustrating. But with a loco failure and serious health issue for a crew member yesterday, its very understandable. I thought the emergency timetable was rather good, and I managed to pack plenty into my day.

I hope the problems do not put you off future CFoS events. The lineup of locos was great, 45110 was a real coup and a big surprise for many. And having as I say been involved with galas and seen how they can go awry quickly, I really do sympathize, the heatwave will only have added to all that.

Loco crews were real heroes in this heat, done that myself as well and its not pleasant. In fact every staff member deserves medals. Full uniform for many despite mad temperatures. Had a lovely chat with one of the guards today on 45110s service but sadly can't remember her name but she was helpful, friendly and happy to have a joke about the heat etc.

So hats off to you. Not easy and yes, some frustrations for sure, but I really hope CFoS comes back in 2027. Its one of the best galas of the year at a heritage line, and at one of the most scenic lines we have. Hopefully next year it will be cooler, don't think any of us expected this heat in May!

 

45110 remaining at the railway a bit longer or is it straight off anyone know please?

Cheers.

 

Same for 78022 please. Is it heading home early as previously speculated? - Which loco(s) are diagrammed for the TBC allocation for the remainder of this week as per the loco roster on the website. Any info would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

 

My video filmed across Saturday-Sunday-Monday. Huge thanks to all involved in organising the event, and then dealing with all the extreme events that followed. We travelled on Saturday and Sunday, having our youngest who is 19 months old we had already decided to cut travelling down and avoid going to Cheltenham, with the wait that is there, and then potential time in loop at Gotherington out of a platform waiting to come back. We managed to do Toddington-Gotherington and return on Saturday, Toddington-Broadway-Winchcombe on the Sunday before I went back alone to Toddington to bring car to Winchcombe in case we couldn't get the kids on a later train.

Really hard circumstances for everyone, only feedback I could give would be to try and give more customer announcments. The railway was incredibly busy, I can't remember a busier CFOS and I fear a few non-enthusiasts make think twice about coming again. An example at Broadway on Sunday, 6880 & 3850 arrived, 6880 ran round and set fire about 4 parts of the run round loop - I let guard know and she told 3850's fireman who put it out. We were all waiting on a very hot train for around half hour thinking we were about to go, eventually I got off to see what was happening as I said to my wife all doors are still open so it won't be going yet, walked to end to find 6880 wasn't on the stock yet and a plan was being formed to swap with 15189 a Toddington. Hugely appreciate everyone was very busy trying to keep the show on the road, we will back next year and every year we can as we love the railway, however I fear from what I heard at the weekend others may think twice.

My video, filmed lineside early each three days before it got too hot, and then between travelling. Locations Chicken Curve, Cheltenham, Hayles Abbey Halt, Toddington, Broadway, Gotherington and Winchcombe. Huge thanks again to everyone for the event.

 

Really not sure ‘platform tickets ’ will work for the railway when its running an expensive to put on event.

Whether a visitor rides during the festival or not it costs the railway the same to put on the show so why would they encourage people who just want to make a token contribution rather than pay the real price of what they are seeing ?

You can pop in for free most days the railway is open to have a cuppa and a cake and ‘watch the trains’.

 

However, £5 each for platform tickets (say) plus their lunch in the cafe and potential spend in the shop and with other stands/stalls/groups isn't a token contribution. It's revenue. And they had paid supplements to ride with the railcar three weeks ago.

 

Access controls seemed pretty lax anyway.
At Cheltenham there was no check/barrier at the top of the ramp like usual.
At Toddington, I ended up coming back from the steam rally via the west entrance and although the gate onto the platform was shut, it wasn't actually locked and nobody was checking wristbands.

 

At Cheltenham yesterday, there was someone checking tickets at the bottom of the ramp. Certainly when I was there in the morning.

 

Without comment on whether site access should or shouldn't be supported, I don't expect admission at an event based on what I did 3 weeks ago unless there's an explicit deal.

 

Try turning up at a football match or a steam rally* and say “I’m only after a cup of tea and a piece of cake” and see if you can get in for a fiver.
*Other types of events are available.

 

Well, what can I say? Epically challenging I think best sums it up. Over the course of the weekend, we had several heat-related medical emergencies including one member of crew who, whilst doing ok, is still not at all well, and a missing vulnerable person to deal with. We had by my count issues with at least 5 sets of points due to the heat and expansion. A stuck token machine at Gotherington requiring implementation of pilotman working. Issues of various severity with 4 locos. Several lineside fires. Several other smaller issues most of which I've probably forgotten but include things like the Winchcombe PA system packing up on Sunday afternoon at a particularly critical time, and of course some trains, particularly the railcar, getting uncomfortably hot for passengers.

A heartfelt thanks to everyone who turned up regardless, for your patience and understanding, in exceptionally trying circumstances. Seeing all the positive comments despite everything really does mean the world to us, at times it was probably the only thing that kept us going! The weekend's events have undoubtedly revealed some weaknesses in some of our processes, and we will be having the mother of all wash-up meetings soon.

As for Sunday evening/Monday morning, it was genuinely a privilege to work with such a dedicated team of people and good friends to work out how the hell we keep the show on the road. When it was clear things had totally fallen apart by Sunday afternoon, we had to figure out what to run to make sure we got everyone home, and how to get everything back in roughly the right place for something we hadn't yet planned the following morning. We only really started thinking about Monday around 5pm, Once we'd finished planning Sunday evening. With some initial discussions about previous off the shelf timetables, and what locos we still had standing, I had to go and guard the final mop up train relieving another member of staff from heat exhaustion. When I got back to mission control a few hours later things had moved on somewhat and we'd just started writing a brand new timetable! We finally finished doing timetable and diagrams at about 1.30 am, and I think that will definitely go down in GWSR legend.

Monday went quite well all things considered, we eliminated the need to use any sidings at Winchcombe which were causing the most problems, a nice simple repeating pattern and splitting the Broadway section off made best use of the Caley tank and made the rest of the line a bit more robust too. Inevitably a few gremlins for something so hastily arranged, and still several medical issues to deal with which delayed things.

Anyway, unsurprisingly I got very few photos, but here's a few, including a welcome surprise run for the 5 on the goods.

 

You may not have many photos but the ones you have taken are excellent and really capture the atmosphere of the event.

A huge thank you to you and all the team for keeping the event running. As I said before, I found it very enjoyable despite the problems experienced. I wasn't there yesterday but I'm glad to hear things worked out better.

I hope the problems of the weekend didn't put too many off returning. I certainly plan to be back as this had become an annual event for me since it first started. As for the weather - you just don't know what to expect at the end of May. I remember years when it has been cold and one year where it rained from start to finish, turning the car park at Toddington into a bog!

Hope the debrief goes well!

 

Yes I distinctly remember one year where all the guards were requesting steam heating - mad!