Our smaller special events

Whilst on the topic of congratulating the major special event organisers, I ought to also comment on the successes of the slightly smaller events including the bus rally, the classic car day and the real ale weekend. All of these passed off with increased visitor numbers than in previous years with nothing other than praise from the visitors. We are having a good year
Colin Fewell

Diesel gala

Congratulations to the diesel dept for putting on such a great weekend despite the unbelievable weather. I gather other events such as the Welland Steam rally was called off so we really did well. Everyone I spoke to said how much they enjoyed our gala - particularly our meticulous attention to detail and our timekeeping.
Colin Fewell

CDRL Acquire a Partner for their Class 117

At its recent meeting the Plc Board were very pleased to agree to the proposal by the directors of CDRL to bring a Class 107 DMCL to the railway. This will be a suitable partner to the Class 117 blue driving unit currently parked at Winchcombe but, as it is not a surburban unit, it has significantly fewer doors; a factor that will certainly be welcomed by C&W! I understand that the new acquisition will be painted in BR Blue livery making available a blue twin car DMU set.

Since the acquisition of Class 117 W51360 in 2013, CDRL have conducted extensive enquiries in an attempt to source a suitable partner vehicle. Their search initially focussed on a suitable Class 117 DMS, and a number of unsuccessful bids were made on the few suitable candidates that came onto the market. Then, in April 2015, Class 107 DMCL SC52029 was advertised for sale by The Llanelli and Mynydd Mawr Railway. This vehicle was withdrawn from British Rail service in October 1992 and has never operated in preservation. An inspection carried out by CDRL in May 2015 showed that the condition of the vehicle far exceeded expectations, having been stored under cover for prolonged periods and not subjected to any cannibalisation for component recovery. Its internal condition looks good and CDRL have sufficient experience backed by a good stock of spares to undertake any repairs necessary to bring it to operation - which is hoped will be sometime in the 2016 season allowing the current DMU set to be taken out for overhaul.

Look out for the arrival of the new vehicle (ignore the garish current livery!) sometime towards the end of August.

Alan Bielby

New Broadway Progress Blog

We are very pleased to welcome the new blog site 'Broadway Station Rebuild Blog'. I know that many people sorely missed Bill Britton's reports on Broadway progress, but it was his personal blog and he worked hard to keep it interesting and up-to-date so, when he decided to take a break, he was not able to continue with it. Now,from the restructured committee managing the work at Broadway, a new team has stepped forward to pick up the blog reins and we wish them well in continuing Bill's work in producing interesting progress reports. Already it is reporting progress on the complex issue of the station building design and we look forward to seeing more details as they evolve.
Alan Bielby

What’s happening at Broadway?

Many of you are wondering what happened to the ‘Steaming to Broadway’ blog which used to provide up-to-date news on the work going on to rebuild station facilities at Broadway.  Bill Britton, who owned and maintained the blog, recently resigned as Chairman of the Broadway Area Group (‘BAG’) and is no longer active on site there.  Jo Roesen, who also contributed to the blog, has taken on duties elsewhere with P/way and the GWSR Heritage Group and does not wish to run a re-launched Broadway blog.   The Board and BAG are grateful to Bill and Jo for the efforts they put into keeping us all so well informed but clearly we must now move on.

The new BAG Chairman is Roger Brindley, who has inherited a rapidly expanding task list as we build momentum towards a 2018 opening date. With the signal box almost complete, work on the main station building is about to start. Roger and the BAG committee are going through a process of re-organising and planning but still recognise the value of the blog and will get it re-launched as soon as the right resources can be found to manage it reliably.  So please be patient – it will happen soon.  Meanwhile, do go to Broadway on a Wednesday or Saturday and see progress for yourself – there will usually be someone around to help you or answer questions.

Thomas

Having Thomas the tank engine visit us is always fraught with potential problems and this year was no exception. Volunteers will be aware of the technical problems with the engine itself but this was the tip of the iceberg. We also had problems in a wide number of other areas which really tested the new organisers almost to destruction. But they came through with flying colours and the event itself was a great success. We had 2460 visitors over the two days which was about 10% up on the same weekend last year so many thanks to all who helped in any way.
Colin Fewell

The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service

We are delighted to announce that the volunteer group of the GWR has been granted The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.

The Award is the highest given to local volunteer groups across the UK to recognise outstanding work in their local communities. It recognises volunteering work that is of social, economic or environmental service to the local community and is supported, recognised and respected by the people who benefit from it.

Our continuing great success in running one of the largest heritage railways in the country almost entirely with volunteers has won us many awards and accolades but this is definitely the most prestigious of all! The Railway will receive a certificate signed by The Queen and an English Crystal with the logo insignia for display. The Railway will be allowed to display the Queen's Award logo on its publications.

The presentation of the award will be made at Toddington on the 14^th September by Dame Janet Trotter DBE, the Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire on behalf of the Queen. Details of the arrangements for the day will be issued later but please make a note of the date in your diary!

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service was created in 2002 to celebrate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and winners are announced each year on 2 June – the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation. In the whole country, 187 charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups are to receive the award this year. However, in Gloucestershire, we are one of only three to be successfully nominated.

This Award is very, very special as it acknowledges the contribution of all of our working members past and present over the last 35 years. This is something we can all be very proud of.

Alan Bielby                                          Glyn Cornish
Chairman, GWSR, Plc                       Chairman, GWRT