CRC Moving Forward

Some pictures taken by Bob Stark today at Cheltenham

The first two show excavation work for the Platform 2 foundations which we must get complete before first train on 9th March

Then there's the preventative works just outside the station - new drainage and rabbit mesh. The fencing will then be replaced.

Malcolm Temple

Sunday March 3rd

The Everyman Theatre Cheltenham and the Play House Birmingham are working together to put on a short play for primary school children about a railway journey from Birmingham to Gloucester in 1852. The play is called "All aboard" and is being presented at a number of railway and other locations in the region - including the Severn Valley Railway, and it will be at the GWR next Sunday morning. The original plan was to perform the play from platform 2 at Toddington Station with the audience on platform 1, but with the appalling weather, it will now be performed in the Flag and Whistle. The play starts at 10:30 and with a break for refreshments will conclude at midday. This means that early visitors who require drinks, will either stand at the back or use the staff entrance. We expect that a number of families will stay on for the rest of the day and have lunch at the railway and travel on the train. We also plan to use this as an opportunity to talk about schools visiting the railway in the future. At present it looks as if we will have about 60+ children. If there are volunteers around on Sunday morning, help would be appreciated resetting the tables after the play is over. 
Colin Fewell

Creating a comprehensive range of GWSR Publications

 

 

I wanted to let you know that we are developing a really exciting range of quality and affordable publications this year which should meet the interests and pockets of our travelling public.

 

A group of us, Austen Shapcott, David Bowie, Howard Parker and I are creating a Souvenir Brochure which  we intend to have ready for sale by the end of July. This will be a 24 page glossy portrait format document slightly bigger than A5. We are getting terrific support from the well known railway photographers we are lucky enough to have on our line. At £3 this should be a 'must have' for every visiting group.

 

To complement this document we already have a Childrens' I-Spy book which retails at £2 and later this season Colin Fewell will be releasing for sale a Railway Walks Book featuring about 15 walks around the railway (don't forget that a national footpath, the Cotswold Way, runs along much of the route of our line). I expect Colin to price this at £3 and it should encourage walkers to use the railway.

 

More exciting news is that at the Easter Bank Holiday weekend Silverlink Publications will make available a 'Recollections of the GWR' by Malcolm Rainieri in their Recollections series. This series already includes a 'Recollections of Gotherington'. Many of you will know Malcolm from his photographs and his new book, which will retail at around £7, will be aimed at those who want to know more about our railway and its history than the Souvenir brochure provides.

 

To round out the publication offerings, Colin is also planning  a booklet entitled  'Histories and Mysteries' about all the interesting places along the line, and I am planning a new GWR Stock Book planned to be available by the autumn  with hopefully an interesting approach to its format!

 

So, I hope you agree that lots is go on on the publication front to bring us to the highest standard of Heritage Railways. If you see publication opportunities which are not covered by the above or you would like to get involved in developing these documents then we would be delighted to hear from you. Please email me at cdbristow51@gmail.com.

 

Chris Bristow

Improving the view... and creating space too!

Some of you may have noticed that a number of larger vehicles (mainly coaches but a few loco’s and wagons too) have left the railway over the last few of years. In particular, the disposal of surplus coaching stock has gathered pace in the last 12 months. The clearout of unwanted vehicles started in the summer of 2005, during my first year as Traction & Rolling Stock Director. An assessment was made of the medium-long term needs of the railway in terms of coaching stock and the status of all private restoration projects was also reviewed at Board level. For disposal, the larger vehicles have been looked at first as they would deliver the greatest space saving. Since then, 24 coaches have left the railway and a further 5 have been sold and are now waiting to depart. 4 long-term resident diesel locomotives have departed and another is due to leave shortly. A handful of wagons have also gone. There will be a further push on disposal of surplus vehicles this year.

The carriage departures were mainly onward sales to other heritage railways although as many were privately owned, it was of course the decision of the owners as to what they did with their vehicles.

Many of the vehicles that have left were very dilapidated and were frankly an eyesore when viewed from the passenger trains. I hope that this season, the view from the window will be much improved. I know that the Carriage & Wagon department are pressing ahead with more refurbishments of coaches and wagons, many of which will be in use during the steam gala in May. C&W's efforts will further enhance what visitors will see when they visit the GWR.

Two coaches that have sold recently are Hawksworth’s W333 and W2232. These have been bought by the Great Western Society and will shortly be moving to Didcot. It is good to know that their future will be assured and in good hands. As you can see from the photo below, W333 was looking rather shabby and so its departure will be an improvement on how the GWR's sidings look to our visitors.

BR Mk1 SK 25020 has also departed for a new home at the Aln Valley Railway where it will be restored to operate, probably as their first service vehicle. This is quite fitting really as 25020 was the first service coach on the GWR, operating services out of Toddington in 1984. As the picture below shows, it needs some attention...

And here 25020 is being unloaded at her new home...

And here she is in the shed at the Aln Valley Railway. They have promised to send a photo when she is out-shopped.

I understand that the decision to dispose of the pre-nationalisation coaching stock at the GWR is not agreeable to everyone. The facts are that despite the enthusiasm, the GWR simply doesn't have the resources (either physical or financial) to refurbish, maintain and then store (undercover) wooden framed/bodied vehicles. The maintenance and ongoing refurbishment of our fleet of 34 Mk1 service coaches is a huge task in itself and is essential to the continuing commercial success of the GWR as an operational heritage railway. This must therefore be our priority.

I hope that you have found this interesting. I will publish further updates as things develop and I will try not to steal the thunder of the well established C&W Blog which can be found at: http://cwatgwsr.blogspot.com/

Richard Drewitt

T&RS Director

GWR Heritage Policy

The Board is very much aware of the various opinions on what should be kept, used, displayed, the correct colour schemes etc and so we have been working on a Heritage Policy for the railway which lays down the principles to assist in decisions in these aspects. A draft document is now available for circulation and comment.

It does not seek to change our philosophy, rather to record it in a considered manner. It looks at the period we are trying to present namely 1904 - 1976, being the years in which the railway operated. It looks at our operational stock in this context and our non-operational stock used for departmental purposes, displays or of special interest. It requires our stations to each reflect a uniform colour scheme appropriate to the period selected for the station and avoid as far as possible fittings and fixtures which are out of period. It reinforces our use of volunteers except where special needs are identified and authorised, as well as recognising the option of contracting or franchising where special services dictate.

The document runs to one and a half pages and is available if you email me on bielbalan@hotmail.com.

Alan Bielby

And the Box

This is how Fred Lea sees the Broadway Signal Box

Malcolm Temple

Just a Reminder

        I always have a look at this when things are going wrong. Oh yes, we can


        Malcolm Temple