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Phew! The GWSR looks north again
It has been a hellish 2 years for the GWSR. The Gloucestershire Warwickshire, marketed as ‘The Honeybourne Line’ to draw attention to its long term intention of restoring the link with the Network Rail Cotswold Line at Honeybourne Junction, has been pulled sharply back in its expansionist inclinations with the 2 horrendous land slips at […]
David Shepherd and his beloved ‘giants’ at 80.
It was a real pleasure to meet David Shepherd again at a talk at the Royal West of England Academy. Entitled ‘My Crazy Life with Steam and Elephants’ he told many great stories about his life as an artist. Clearly a very emotionally connected and passionate guy who, at 80 this year, still ‘loves giants’, […]
Things looking up at GWSR
Folk at the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway (GWSR) are starting to smile a bit when you talk about the future. It’s been a bad couple of years and morale has dipped now and again but all the backs-to-the-wall efforts seem to be paying off. First, the mild Xmas period has meant a much better Santa […]
The Economics of HS? – Just get on with it!!!
All the media are going crazy today with the news that the government has approved HS2. Pete Waterman seems to be having fun with it all, judging by Twitter. Follow him and Christian Wolmar for the sane comments by people who know about railways and have an understanding of history. Pete is right to say […]
Brunel Train Shed to be electrified?
I was amazed and delighted to read a short little item in The Railway Magazine that the original Brunel GWR station at Bristol Temple Meads might again see trains when the Great Western main line is electrified in 2016/17. I know time moves on and buildings inevitably change their use. In some cases the change […]
‘New’ Western Region HQ at Swindon shock!
Le plus ca change. You have to laugh, don’t you? NR has decided that devolution is the way forward and they’ve come up with the idea that we could have a Western (isn’t there a word missing before that?) Region network based at Swindon to cover everything west of Paddington. Apparently, across the country, this […]
‘Great Western Kings’ by Kevin McCormack reviewed
Is there anything more to be said on the topic of GWR 4-6-0s in general and the Kings in particular? It’s a subject that has been covered so many times by people who knew the locomotives, like O. S. Nock, and in the case of Kenneth Leech, fired and drove them. Surprisingly, yes, and this […]
Torbay Express – last trip in March for King Edward I
6024 King Edward I is to work 5 rail tours in early 2012 before it is withdrawn for its 10 year major overhaul. The last trip is a Torbay Express to Kingswear, preceded by a Bristolian (starting in Shrewsbury), a Cathedrals Express to Cardiff, a ‘Help for Heroes’ trip commemorating the steps of the famous […]
A 38xx ‘Breakthru’
Just discovered that Didcot’s freight 2-8-0 3822 was the loco used in Queen’s video for their song ‘Breakthru’. It starts with drummer Roger Taylor’s then girlfriend, the gorgeous Debbie Leng wearing a black mask (hmmm…) waking up to find she is lying on the line of the Nene Valley Railway with 3822 charging towards her […]
50 Years of the ‘Westerns’
In December 1961 the first of the ‘Westerns’, Class 52 as they became later categorised, emerged from Swindon Works. Steam fans may have been muttering under their breaths at the onward march of the diesel enemy at the time but there was always a grudging recogntion that here was a diesel that was, at least, […]
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