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A 21st Century ‘Great Bear’?
We seem to be in a sort of new-build mania. The list of lost locomotives that have some sort of following for building a replica of them seems to be growing rather than slowing down. Is this just a late charge by us old chaps who remember steam days and want to relive those moments […]
A Swindon design for the 21st century?
News that the 77021 Locomotive group is intending to build a brand new Standard Class 3 77xxx 2-6-0 is interesting. OK, these engines do not have the beauty of a GWR thoroughbred and they might not be every GWR fan’s cup of tea – not a lot of copper work and no safety valve bonnet […]
A Mainline Connection for the GWR in Cheltenham?
Just as the Glos Warks Railway fixes its gaze on Broadway to the north, with Honeybourne almost within reach, an article in the September 2013 edition of ‘Modern Railways’ discusses the possibility of developments at the opposite end, at Cheltenham, which could conceivably see GWR trains running into a new platform shared at an improved […]
Signal Boxes – the reality of buying your own
I have elsewhere raised the issue of the gradual but inevitable loss of traditional GWR signal boxes as modernisation continues. It seems sad that this process will accelerate as Network Rail seek to achieve their aim of centralising control of signalling in a very few massive signalling centres. I emailed NR to ask about the […]
The first Everything GWR Appeal Fund
We have been thinking for a while that we should put our (and your!) money where our talk is. There are lots of GWR themed preservation and restoration activities going on all around us and we talk a lot about what can and should be done to keep our heritage alive. Perhaps it is a […]
Dreams and Realities
Preserving our railway heritage has always required (at least) two things: the refusal to accept ‘can’t-be-done’ as an answer to an idea and the ability to have the bloody-minded, tenacious patience to get down and get it done. There are lots of ‘can’t-be-dones’, no-hope projects that no sane person would ever give a second thought […]
What if WR Steam had lasted longer?
The end was in 1964/5. I should know: I have the last Ian Allan Combined Volume that had WR steam in it. I had moved to Dorset from Keynsham in 1962 and before I went, I had seen the last remnants of steam followed by the invasion of the Warships. As a child I was […]
Have you heard the one about the 3 CME’s?
After a period where they were all held in limbo after their deaths, the time came for the great railway Chief Mechanical Engineers to appear before God so that they could be judged before, hopefully, being elevated to heaven. The first the present himself was Sir Nigel Gresley. Confident that his contribution to human progress […]
Once in a lifetime. I suppose…
In the end, despite being a bit grumpy about the whole thing, 3 of us GWR folk from the Glos Warks Steam Dept. made it up to York to see the A4 fest, ‘Mallard 75′ yesterday. And we had to admit that it was one of those unique occasions that you felt glad that you […]
Join the ‘Everything GWR’ Community!
The GWR did not die in 1948 when the railways were nationalised, and indeed the name has come back very strongly during the privatised era. Today, the spirit of Brunel is possibly stronger than it has ever been and the electrification of what everyone calls the Great Western mainline is bringing a new energy to […]
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