GWSR Cotswold Festival of Steam | 24th-26th of May 2025

This was a great gala. An amazing selection of locos and lots to see and do at Winchcombe and Toddington.
Having the well tanks shunting at Winchcombe was a really good idea as it provided movement and interest between the passenger trains.
I thought my three day ticket for £90 excellent value.
I did find getting in at Toddington each morning tediously slow.
I know there were problems on the Saturday causing delays but Sunday started off with a 10 minute late start that then got later as the day went on making for some long waits on the trains.

 

A very enjoyable weekend at the GWSR, I was there Saturday and Sunday. Despite the operational problems with points and fires I think the line dealt with the issues very well, just a shame that due to timetable slippage on Sunday I missed a final round trip with 6880/7903 as I had a train home to catch from Cheltenham Spa. It did however give me a chance for a speedy walk along the footpath on the old formation through the center of Cheltenham, not something I'd done before.

Thanks to the organisers for putting on a fantastic show and also to the crew on 35006 for an enjoyable footplate ride from Cheltenham to Toddington on Sunday afternoon!

 

2nd day spent at 'The Cotswold Festival of Steam' Monday 26th May 2025
including
35006 Peninsular & Oriental S.N.Co. with 'Canberra' headboard alongside 7903 Foremarke Hall with Rail 200 headboard
https://railway-photography.smugmug...y-2025/-Cotswold-Festival-of-Steam-/i-QXBNJc4

i spent most of the day at Toddington and Winchcombe but photos taken at Cheltenham Racecourse station in the morning and afternoon' plus 2807 & 6880 Betton Grange at Gotherington
Delays not as bad as the weekend, but about 35 minutes late by 4pm

Also a mobile phone cam video of
48 'The King' T'n'T 3063 'Willy the Well Tank with on a mixed goods service at Winchcombe
https://railway-photography.smugmug...y-2025/-Cotswold-Festival-of-Steam-/i-nWTbP9G

Neil

 

Are any of the gala visitors likely to be operating this coming weekend or next? Couldn't make the gala unfortunately

 

I went on the Saturday, loved seeing the SECR O1 No. 65 (never managed to get to the Bluebell so far so the first time I'd seen/ridden behind that one). As the trains were running late I found time to drive Betton Grange up and down Cheltenham platform, it's a lovely thing to drive! Loved seeing the two Borrows tanks together as well. Just a shame I could get down for 1 day this year - well done to the organising team.

 

Had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend in the Cotswolds including a visit to the gala on Saturday. An enjoyable day despite the delays so many thanks to everyone involved in making this event happen. My only criticism would be that the timetable seemed overly complicated - it would work if everything ran to plan, but we know that doesn't always happen. It sounds from some of the earlier posts as if there were delays on Sunday and Monday as well.

No 65 was actually the star of the show for me - which sounds strange coming from a GWR fan I know, but it is a loco that I've become quite fond of on my many trips to the Bluebell line and it was great to see it working somewhere else for a change! I wasn't too interested when I saw the Austerity and well tanks had been added to the line-up but ended up having a ride behind all of them. Sometimes it's good to have something a little less "mainstream". Thanks again to all for their hard work.

 

A few more pictures from Sunday.

 

I really enjoyed my Bank Holiday Monday at this superb event. What a fantastic array of engines, and congratulations and thanks are due to everyone involved. I called in at Winchcombe in the morning to see the two well tanks, and enjoyed watching them so much that I added another stop there in mid-afternoon. The incredible collection of O gauge locos at that station is also worthy of mention - I wish I could have spent more time studying them. As with the previous days, the timetable seemed to suffer - I started my day on the 09:50 from Cheltenham, which didn't actually depart until around 10:15, and things seemed to get gradually later from then onwards. Some aspects did seem impossible - I arrived at Cheltenham in mid-afternoon behind 75069, and it seemed that around 90% of the passengers from the seven coaches then trudged (at funeral procession rate) all the way down one platform and back along the other to board the waiting train behind 35006. Only problem was that there was only due to be 5 minutes between the arrival and departure - I suspect it ended up being at least twice that. I'm all for complicated timetables at events like this, with plenty of action - but maybe this one needed to be just fractionally less ambitious. Nevertheless, it was a great day.

 

I'm glad you guys liked it, and went with the flow. The important thing was that there was lots to see, and lots of trains to ride on.
I was on the Queen Mary on Sunday, the last trip was cut short as we ended up at Winchcombe with an inbound train from both directions, and one need water soonish, I heard.
Where to go? The answer was the EE siding, with P&O leading
All part of the fun.

 

I did find it a bit strange on Sunday that 75069 was sent from Toddington towards Winchcombe about 45 minutes late, then not too long after, 35006 was sent with the freight (which only left 15 minutes late) before anything else had come the other way.

 

A website loco roster update would be useful ….preferably before next Tuesday as several of us are considering a day there next Wednesday on way south to WSR.

 

Well, that was a weekend! Almost recovered after being back again today to put all the toys away, at a somewhat gentler pace.

Thank you for the positive comments, after what has been a challenging weekend with high emotions for most of the organising team it really does mean a lot to hear that people had a good time despite everything. It is a lot of effort, and reading some of the comments elsewhere during the weekend had been difficult. (Not here I hasten to add, where the comments have been more measured on the whole!)

We always endeavour to put on the absolute best show we possibly can, and sometimes to know where that limit is we do have to stretch ourselves. I don't think there's any doubt we found that point this weekend. We did do our utter best to keep things on the go, including ensuring that connection with the well tanks was made on the Sunday and Monday - apologies that didn't happen on the Saturday.

We undoubtedly had some bad luck, sheep on the line, Gotherington signalling faults (and yes it is noted it's not the first time, as you'd expect it's something we'll be looking at internally), a water issue and couple of other one off operating issues, all of which could just have likely happened on an ordinary day but didn't.

Despite the fact some of those issues presented themselves on the Monday, I think we did quite well in recovery on that day. Monday was also kids go free, and it was really lovely to see so many families on the railway, and a different demographic being introduced to us.

Although final figures aren't in, it seems to have been a financial success, that means we should be allowed to have another go next year

Highlights for me were a rather hurried signwriting effort on No.15 whilst occasionally being showered with ash from a lighting up fire, being guard on our goods train with a pannier on the front, No.65 being achingly pretty, and of course chatting to various folks including @Jamessquared - hope you got back in time Tom and yes, trundling along on the footplate on a sunny evening along the Cotswolds is certainly bliss!

A few pics from me when I grabbed a chance, often after being shunted into a siding!

 

Unfortunately everything has to go back fairly quickly this year so no scope for post-gala running on this occasion, sorry. Next Wednesday is 2807 and 3850.

 

My video from across Sunday and Monday, as usual edited in time of day sequence, photos to follow. Mixture of lineside and station shots, locations Toddington, Gotherington, Hayles Abbey Halt, Didbrook and Winchcombe. Massive thanks again to everyone involved, a really enjoyable couple of days!

 

A few photos from Monday.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/16582147@N07/albums/72177720326444517

It was a very enjoyable day, thanks to all concerned with the event. I can recommend the excellent fruit cake at Gotherington Station.

 

Thanks for giving your thoughts on the gala event. It is always good to hear the considered views of someone "in the know".

My own preference is that galas should have simple timetables, preferably with even-interval departures and enough timing slack to give a chance of recovery when things go amiss. When major delays do build up, it means not only some annoyed passengers but increased stress and extended working hours for the railway's own staff and volunteers, which can never be a good thing.

Anyway, I visited the gala on Sunday, with the visiting SECR No 65 being the No 1 attraction. But I also much enjoyed watching the two little well-tanks shunting at Winchcombe, both unusual and in nice bright colours.

I made another visit to the GWSR today, hoping that the gala visitors would still be around. I found 75069 in the car park being loaded onto a transporter; it's obviously needed back on the SVR. Interesting to observe Allelys' high-tech device (an extendable rod) for checking the load height. For road transport purposes, it's fortunate that British railway vehicles are limited to around 13ft high. Much higher, and chimneys and cab roofs would need removal to fit under motorway bridges (16ft 6in standard).

The other gala visitors were lurking in Toddington yard, but hiding behind diesels so only limited photo opportunities.

 

That would be my preference too but some people then complain that it's boring. I remember the West Somerset ran a very simple timetable some years ago which basically had one train per hour in each direction, running at the same minutes past each hour. It worked pretty well but people didn't like it. The problem of building too much recovery time into the schedule is that if everything does go well you end up with everything going slow and long dwell times in stations. So some kind of sensible compromise is needed.

I applaud the GWSR for trying to put on a very interesting and varied gala but as I said previously, it was a timetable that would only work if everything ran smoothly. I'll also stress that this isn't uniquely a GWSR problem - most of the galas I have been to in recent years have had timetable slippage for one reason or another. Such are the joys of running an intensive service on a single track line, although even the Great Central with double track can have problems. The thing is you just can't predict what's going to happen on the day (loco failures, points/signal failures, sheep on line, lineside fires etc.....) Let's just appreciate that the gala organisers have a difficult job to do and are doing their best to keep us all entertained!

 

Photos from a fantastic couple of days Sunday & Monday... https://www.flickr.com/photos/alts1985/albums/72177720326483477/

 

Bit of action from all the visiting locos from the weekend.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I've now been to three steam galas this year where the main cause of lateness hasn't been the complexity of the timetable during the day, but rather the challenges of getting everything up and running in the morning. It only takes one problem with getting locos off shed, or getting the signalling / points working, and everything's gone pear shaped before the day has started (and there's no chance of recovering). In each case that I've experienced, the delay has remained roughly the same during the day, suggesting that it's not so much the timetable that's the problem, but the practicality of actually getting everything running in the early morning. Personally I like complicated timetables at galas, with plenty of shunting / freight / non-stop working, but only if it stands a reasonable chance of success. Despite all this though, I've really enjoyed the three events, the late running hasn't spoiled my day.