7 August 2010: 2807 Line Debut Appearance

Clive Hanley and I visited the Gloucester Warwicks for the second week running to check out newly restored GWR Heavy Freight loco 2807. Unfortunately a failure in the valve mechanism on the second trip of the day, as the loco emerged from Greet tunnel, which resulted in the loss of a key part meant an undignified end to the day for the loco. Prompt action by the crew, who brought the loco to a swift halt, prevented serious damage to the mechanism. We recorded the locomotive's departure from Winchcombe immediately prior to the failure, and came across the aftermath some three quarters of an hour later.

Duties were shared with 9F 92203 Black Prince, which operated on a reduced service for the afternoon runs.

You Tube (10 mins)

2807 at Hailes and Winchcombe; failed at Greet Meadows; at Winchcombe Station awaiting movement to Toddington; post mortem at Toddington sheds. 92203 Black Prince at  Didbrook, Hailes, Winchcombe and Gretton Meadows.

31 July 2010: Turkish 8F

A serious landslip near Gotherington prevents trains on the GWSR from reaching Cheltenham at the southern end of the line. In order to give customers value for money, trains are topped and tailed (steam on the south end and diesels on the north). They run to Winchcombe and then make two return trips to Gotherington before finally returning to Toddington. This made for a good service although photographic opportunities were mainly limited to the area around Greet tunnel during the most of the day to maximise the number of working run-pasts.

Clive Hanley kindly volunteered to drive from his home and we arrived in time to take some shed shots at Toddington together with some of replica locomotive Iron Duke which was obligingly parked in the car park. As you will see from the early footage, this loco was not running today as the narrow gauge line was closed. We ran into Big Issue salesman Chris Page at various times during the day, and he honours us with his presence in the footage at Greet Tunnel where he posed in front of 45160 as she passed (just like Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, some people will do anything to get in front of a camera). He may look a little grumpy in the shot, but do not be fooled: by his standards he is ecstatically happy.

The main purpose of the day was to view Turkish 8F 45160, resplendent in Turkish livery and number plate (which she will retain for this year). She shared duties with David Shepherd's 9F 92203 Black Prince. The latter locomotive stole much of the honours during the morning session thanks to her enthusiastic crew; many thanks, gentlemen.

You Tube (10 mins) Iron Duke at Toddington; Toddington sheds; 8F 45160 at Didbrook, leaving Winchcombe, Greet Tunnel. 9F 92203 Black Prince at Hailes, Winchcombe, Far Stanley and Dixton.

2 June 2010: GWR 175 Event

We had a superb day out at the Cotswold Festival of Steam. Many thanks to all of those who have given so much time and effort to organising this major event, and the crews who made the locomotives perform in such a lively manner.

After a misty start, the weather was superb with plenty of sunshine. There were five locomotives in action. City of Truro had been repainted and re-numbered to its old operational number, 3717, heavy freight loco 3803 from the South Devon Railway, 4160 from the West Somerset Railway and local stalwart 7903 Foremarke Hall. The star of the day was undoubtedly 1917-built Churchward-designed mogul 5322, which won our hearts despite wearing a mud-pack and dressed up as a WW1 army supply train.

The railway overcame the serious logistical problems of  landslip at Gotherington by top and tailing the trains from Winchcombe to Gotherington. The 'tail' of each train arriving from Gotherington was left behind to form the 'tail' of the next train to that destination. This meant plenty of trains.

I was in the entertaining company of Brian Burrows, Graham Briggs and Gordon McCulloch. There was plenty of moaning about the lack of exhaust on a few of the shots as the temperature soared in the twenties during the afternoon, but these guys wouldn't be enjoying themselves if they did not have a good moan!

You Tube video (10 mins 6 secs)

GWR City class 4-4-0 3717 City of Truro at Didbrook and Hailes; GWR Churchward 4300 class mogul 5332 near Chicken Curve and Dixton; GWR modified hall 4-6-0 7903 Foremarke Hall leaving Gotherington, rounding Chicken Curve and on Defford Straight; GWR 2-8-0 3803 at Dixton, on Defford straight and near Hailes with the freight; GWR large prairie 4160 leaving Gotherington and near Hailes.

10 April 2010

Clive Hanley and I visited the Gloucester Warwicks Railway on a lovely sunny Spring day.... although when most of the trains came past it was not so sunny!  This time Clive did the driving honours in his powerful vehicle. And what power she showed; as you will see on the video we captured 5542 leaving Winchcombe where we were able to witness the train entering the tunnel and then drove swiftly round to the Gretton side to see her exiting. Wow, I was breathless after that!

On our arrival,  a peep into a large tent which had been set up in the car park revealed a surprise guest loco, then in the sheds we came across City of Truro which was being repainted in a different livery to the one which had been widely predicted - no doubt a misunderstanding. Newly restored 8F 48274 was looking good, but was still in its packaging  (cf the inner packaging of a Kraft milk chocolate bar). There was much activity in the sheds as locomotives were shifted around and the rostered locomotives were prepared.  This was lucky for us as there were only five runs which we could film / photograph.

The two locomotives in action were 'the planet's favourite prairie' 5542 and 7903 Foremarke Hall. As with the Lickey shot,  I have chosen to upload the file in HD format partly because, after a year of downloading material from the camcorder in standard definition to economise on disk space (until blu-ray becomes viable),  I have discovered that high definition raw files are actually smaller than standard definition! This is not the case for the processed files, but I still can't get my head around the respective sizes of the raw files!

You Tube (HD) (10mins 6secs)

8 August 2009

Clive Hanley and I enjoyed a very pleasant day on this scenic railway. The locomotives in action were David Shepherd's 9F 92203 Black Prince and newly restored GWR Prairie 5619. David Shepherd himself was present to witness a Spitfire flypast (not shown) and ride the footplate of his powerful locomotive.

The sun shone for most of the day and a long break in the timetable around lunchtime enabled us to enjoy a civilised lunch at a local hostelry in the company of large numbers of attractive women - not that they were with us.... unfortunately. One advantage of being our age is that you can smile at women without the risk of a hostile reception! Clive maintained time-honoured scouse traditions by smuggling two long forgotten, weed-infested beer glasses out of the pub car-park: his wife, who examined them later, was definitely not impressed! I have deeply-ingrained memories of a scouse work colleague examining waste bins on a golf course, during a game, in the hope of increasing his stock of golfing equipment. He was delighted to find some bag-inserts which he excitedly put to use in his golf bag!

You Tube (10mins)

92203 Black Prince does the Toddington Two step; 92203 at Dixton, Gretton Meadow and on the Defford straight;  fishplate maintenance, the Turkish Stanier 8F 8274 and 3440 City of Truro in the sheds: GWR Prarie 5619 at Hailes, Winchcombe and Gretton Meadows.

23 May 2009

It is some time since I visited the Cotswold line. I travelled down in glorious sunshine in the company of Brian Burrows. Things seemed to be set fair until I pulled out my recently repaired camcorder (returned the day before) and realised to my horror that I had left the tripod plate on the loan camcorder back home. No choice then but to film with the camcorder casually balanced on top of the tripod; no chance for anything but the most basic camerawork and hope the thing did not fall off in the meantime.

We met up with GB productions, who were accompanied by Henry Elliott and the ever-youthful Dee Davison. As Dee sat in the grass by the lineside I felt compelled to point out that a number of snakes had been observed at the Severn Valley recently; I also warned her about the famous Cotswold tree snake which is apt to gab its victim in a vice like grip, without warning, from above. For the rest of the day she did not know whether to look downwards or upwards!

All the enthusiasts were anxious to obtain some unforgettable images of GWR 5972 Olton Hall, which was masquerading as Hogwarts Express in LMS crimson lake. Of the other guests, 5619 did not run on Saturday, SR 'Terrier' 662 Martello was confined to Cheltenham station and 5526 spent the day pulling the auto train. Supporting local engines included 9F 92203 Black Prince, 7903 Foremarke Hall, 3440 City of Truro and Barclay industrial no.15.

Many thanks to all those involved in the organisation of the Gala. The trains ran on time all day.

You Tube Video (8mins 32secs)

5526 at Toddington, Didbrook and Defford straight; 5972 Olton Hall at Hailes and Winchcombe; 3440 City of Truro at Toddington, Chicken Curve and Dixton; 7903 at Hailes summit; 92203 at on Defford straight and Chicken Curve.

5972 Olton Hall at Toddington, Hailes and Winchcombe (6.1mB)

3440 City of Truro at Toddington, Chicken Curve and Dixton (4.5mB)

92203 Black Prince at Defford straight - passenger and Chicken Curve - goods. (4.7mB)

5526 with the autotrain at Toddington, Didbrook, Chicken Curve and Defford straight (4.9mB)

3 August 2008

Clive and I visited the Cotswold line on Saturday. Three engines were in steam, 3440 City of Truro, 7903 Foremarke Hall and 92203 Black Prince, but the latter did not run; it was due to have a steam test. Luckily the rain, which looked likely on several occasions, held off all day and we had a fair bit of sunshine, though not usually at the right time (needless to say!).

At Winchcombe, during the long wait for the last train we were kindly shown around the carriage works by Greville Care, who has worked at the GWSR  for over 27 years. It is amazing to think what this railway has accomplished since 1981 with exclusively volunteer labour. The railway has no cattle trucks (which are a rarity) but is currently refurbishing a horse box and has an elephant wagon in the sidings (not joking here). Apparently (we were told) someone queried whether it was for the passengers' trunks. Many thanks for the tour Greville. 

It seemed a good idea to concentrate our lunchtime efforts at Greet Tunnel which is adjacent to the Royal Oak pub. Here we see 3440 City of Truro emerging from the tunnel in front of the famous herbaceous borders which decorate the lineside at this location and which are currently at their peak. The gardener should be aware that his prize blooms are beginning to encroach on the photographers' line of site and may come under threat from machete-wielding photographers. (2.0mB)

Editor's Note: lunch at the Royal Oak was excellent. It is just as well that we decided on a pub meal instead of the usual sandwiches, because after an attempted gate vault at Didbrook resulted in a heavy fall for Clive, it would surely have been curtains for the egg and cress sandwiches he could have been carrying in his bag. Fortunately as a former cyclist of some ability, Clive is well practised at falling off moving bikes, so a stationery fence was of no real concern to him.

Just for a change we decided to film / photograph 7903 Foremarke Hall at Dixton Cutting. Here she leads the 12:15. Judging by his speed, the driver clearly has lunch very much on his mind. I wonder what sandwiches he had brought with him? Oak smoked Dorset ham with English mustard or smoked scottish salmon with cucumber, a squeeze of lemon and a twist of black pepper or coronation chicken with mango chutney and flaked almonds or simply smoked chicken, prawn and avocado in a light mayonnaise dressing. I suppose we will never know. (2.0mB)

3440 City of Truro leaves Winchcombe and passes into Greet Tunnel with the 3:10. At my age the sight of trains entering tunnels is about all the excitement I can hope for. After a long spell of sunshine you can see the fickle sun disappearing as the loco passes Clive's position only to reappear as she passed me. It goes without saying that if you are filming near to fields or gardens noisy agricultural machinery is bound to start working. The unfortunate noise in the background is a tractor; the farmer had just recommenced his work after his lunch. I bet he had cheese and pickle sandwiches. (3.8mB)

Cotswold Festival of Steam 31 May 2008

The second Saturday of the Cotswold Festival saw similar, but much warmer weather. 850 "Lord Nelson" was replaced by the reliable 4F 44422.

Once again I was in the company of Clive Hanley who, as we shall see later, was in a waspish mood!

Guest locos - prairie 5619 and 4F 44422 - take the 10am past Didbrook. This location is fast becoming unusable as the lineside bushes grow with gay abandon. I was told that the brightness of this picture was due to something called 'sunshine'; we live and learn. (2.8mB)

The crew produce an excellent performance from veteran world record holder 3440 "City of Truro" departing Winchcombe with the 11:20. We met Graham and Gordon at this location. Earlier in the day Gordon's face had been covered in black spots. Was it a case of a plague of blackheads or a medieval skin disease? He claimed he had received a dousing from some filthy loco at Toddington, but I intend to where my cross for another month... just in case. (3.1mB)

The 9F 92203 formerly known as [Black] Prince makes a dramatic showing as she pulls the lunchtime goods around Chicken Curve in front of a very large gallery. Here we met Chris the Camper, who brings his tent to any event he attends, in the company of a glamorous young lady. If he managed to persuade her to visit the pub that night, one can only imagine her reaction later in the evening to a request of "How about a coffee back at my tent?" (3.0mB)

Guest 4F 44422 is shown at Toddington undergoing preparation for the day's work in the company of the loco she replaced "Lord Nelson" who was standing on the other side of the fence in the public gallery. Later we see the 4F exit Greet Tunnel in front of a long line of photographers. (2.4mB)

Competing with the harmonious sound of a blackbird, 7903 powers up Defford Straight with the 15:41 ex Winchcombe. (2.5mB)

The sky became very dark at Dixton as we waited for Bulleid West Country Pacific 34007 "Wadebridge" and 92203 with the final train of the day. Powering through impressively, a debate then ensued among those present as to whether the Bulleid was pulling the 9F or the 9F was pushing the Bulleid. The West Country must have been working reasonably hard as you could actually hear her.

During our sojourn at Dixton, Clive bravely challenged 3 characters who were on the lineside without hi-viz vests at various places and, although 'bang to rights', got a typical 2008 response from 2 of them. After prising Clive apart from the third of the improperly clad linesiders I drove rapidly to Hailes for a second viewing, mercifully meeting no "Cotswold drivers" on the way. (2.8mB)

Cotswold Festival of Steam 24 May 2008

The weather forecast was not too promising for the first weekend of this annual gala, but in the event it was not too bad, although there was a gusty wind and fast moving cloud which did an effective job of synchronising with the run pasts.

A large cast of locomotives featured notable guest engines 850 Lord Nelson, 34007 Wadebridge and GWR prairie 5619. The event also took the opportunity to celebrate the purchase of 92203 Black Prince by well-known artist David Shepherd. I'm spoiled by the intensity of galas on the GCR no doubt, but I did wonder whether the expense of running so many guest locos for a couple of runs each day was really worthwhile. I'm not complaining though!

Clive and I met Stuart C Newman (who was on his first visit to the line) in the car park and offered to show him some of the better-known locations. Graham and Gordon were also on duty, together with Chris P. the Big Issue salesman who is feeling the effects of the credit crunch to the extent that he cannot afford to buy any stock. This should be temporary as he is just about to publish his first book with the Orwellian title, "Down and Out in Cheddleton and Winchcombe", for which he is hoping (some would say optimistically) to receive a down payment of a couple of four packs.

In bizarre fashion, guest loco Bulleid Pacific 34007 "Wadebridge", was held at Winchcombe to allow a 2-2-0 tractor to precede her up the line (royalty in the brake van possibly?). As you will see, this vehicle duly parked up in full view of our party on Defford Straight just before the train arrived....we did wonder why nobody else was using this popular location. (2.3mB)

Wearing a head-board that is several sizes too big, guest GWR prairie 5619 poses with 3440 "City of Truro" at Toddington. We later see them rounding the curve at Hailes. (2.7mB)

Star attraction was SR 4-6-0 850 Lord Nelson which, making a comeback, is driven very carefully around the curve at Didbrook in front of a very large gallery. All to no avail as this seemingly fated loco was failed in the afternoon with a leaky firebox. (2.7mB)

Poor timing: local GWR engine 7903 "Foremarke Hall" accelerates a goods train at Chicken Curve. Unfortunately for the enormous gallery - a substantially larger number than you would generally see at the Cheltenham Town FC stadium where my team will be playing for the first time next season - the driver decided to 'put the hammer down' long after most of the gallery had taken their shots and were busy admiring them on their digital screens. (3.0mB)

Clive's casual suggestion to David Shepherd last month that Black Prince be turned out in the condition in which he took delivery of her back in 1968 became a reality when the idea was adopted by the railway. Some did not approve and voiced their objections vehemently, but this particular piece of theatre generally went down well with the grumps at the lineside.

This shot shows an un-named loco number 92203 (I'm not allowed to call it Black Prince) making a good showing at Chicken Curve, with some unwanted accompaniment from the strong wind and a lone red poppy blowing in the breeze as she runs away from the camera. At this location I bumped into official GWSR videographer Geoff Sanders from whose work I discovered many of the locations I now use regularly. Many thanks Geoff. (2.5mB).

The last run of the day featured 34007 "Wadebridge" and an un-named 9F (92203 as far as I could make out) in tandem. I chose the wildflower garden in Dixton cutting for this shot. Before the arrival of the train Graham and Gordon raised Clive's hopes by explaining their intention of getting some teasels in the shot. Clive, who attends steam events on sufferance, thought they said diesels and was disappointed when two steamers arrived. Meanwhile Graham Briggs showed us the cover of his latest DVD project which covers the well-known annual run to Skegness for buses, bikes and similar (says he is doing someone a favour!).....umm yes.....very interesting Graham. (2.0mB)

The seductively beautiful GWR Prairie 5542 spent all day pulling the two coach autotrain back and forth to Winchcombe. I took the opportunity of using "YouTube's" High Definition mode, which, with files 4x larger, is almost as good as my standard wmv format. The imitation whistle at Toddington in the final section rivals the asinine cry on US Golf Courses of "Get in the hole" as Tiger Woods drives off from the tee and Peter Alliss mumbles for the thousandth time "oh no, how can anyone be as stupid as that" to himself. (5mins 10secs)

Wildlife and Steam on Tour 12 April 2008

A David Shepherd painting exhibition at Winchcombe was the feature of the day and a chance to meet the great man. His painting always look good in books and magazines, but you can only see the true quality when you confront them in the 'flesh', as it were, at close hand.

David's engine  9F 92203 "Black Prince" featured with 7903 "Foremarke Hall which replaced rostered GWR loco 5619.

Clive Hanley was set to visit the diesel Gala at the GCR and to catch some shots of Oliver Cromwell, recently steam-tested and reunited with its boiler, but was persuaded to visit the GWSR to see some real locomotives in action. Unfortunately he was re-acquainted with my jinx which saw only two passing shots in sunshine during a day on which there was plenty of sun. A classic sequence at Greet Tunnel (not shown) showed Black Prince pass out of the sunshine into cloud as she came into view and then, at the very instant it entered the tunnel, the sun returned.

92203 Black Prince takes the first train of the day out of Cheltenham. There appears to be a speed restriction up to the end of the straight. (2.3mB)

7903 Foremarke Hall in the sunshine as she runs through the landscaped parkland of Dixton. The railway have the use of a heavy-duty flail which they have used to good effect at this once heavily vegetated location. A badly mauled engine block on the bank evidenced the power it brings to bear.  (2.6mB)

With rain threatening, 92203 Black Prince accelerates away from Gotherington and past Skew bridge. I was not popular as the extra distance I walked to the bridge delayed the chase to Hailes where Clive just got his shot and failed I to set up my camera in time. I just shook my head. (2.3mB)

For once parting clouds greeted the metronomic beat of 7903 Foremarke Hall as she passed over Skew Bridge and came into view at Dixton bridge with the last train of the day. However the sun was dead ahead and partially obscured by some high cloud. My frantic waving for an upping of the beat elicited no response from the crew. (3.4mB)

A Trip from Toddington to Cheltenham 29 August 2006

David and Malcolm, Booking Office Clerk and Stationmaster, welcome us to the "Friendly Line in the Cotswolds" (13mB) on Google Video

Editors Note: Some of you may recognise Malcolm Ranieri, a top steam photographer, on the right.

Further videos are available at the Gloucester and Warwicks  website 

Warning:  The files are of substantial size and will take a considerable time to  download for non-broadband users.

All photographs and videos copyright ©  Mike Snow