The Railway Magazine – July 2019

74 •The Railway Magazine• July 2019

Goliathsteams

at Cranmore

THE overhaul of the

Dartmouth Steam Railway’s

GWR 2-8-0T No. 5239Goliath

has reached the boiler

steam test stage at the

East Somerset Railway. The

‘Swindon No. 4’boiler passed

its hydraulic test on June 14,

and as a result the first fire

was lit and the boiler warmed

through ahead of some

light steam tests during the

following weekend.

First moves for Spa

Valley’sSutton

THE restoration of the Spa

Valley Railway’s LBSCR‘A1X’

0-6-0T No. 32650Sutton

(LBSCR No. 50Whitechapel)

reached another milestone

on May 19 when the loco was

moved for the first time in

many years. The‘Terrier’was

hauled from the workshop at

Tunbridge Wells West in order

to test the newly refitted

coupling rods. The first coats

of LBSCR Umber have also

been applied to one side of

the loco.

WSR to close Watchet-

Minehead this winter

THE West Somerset Railway

has confirmed the section

of line between Watchet

and Minehead will be closed

again from November until

March 2020. The closure

will enable the railway to

complete essential track

upgrade work in an effort to

get the line back to Red route

status as soon as possible. The

line will reopen throughout in

time for the start of the 2020

main season.

SIDELINES

Steam & Heritage Track Record

‘B1’and‘Caley’tankaddsoulto

Gloucs-Warks steam festival

CLOSE to 5,000 passengers

travelled on the Gloucestershire

Warwickshire Railway’s trains

during the three-day Cotswold

Festival of Steam on May 25-17,

sponsored byThe RM.

The successful event, which

featured eight locomotives in

steam, including three visitors,

proved to be very profitable

for the railway, attracting more

visitors than in 2017, although

not quite as many as last year’s

‘Return to Broadway’event.

The theme for the event was

Northern Soul, acknowledging

the northern roots of visiting

LNER‘B1’4-6-0 No. 1264 and

Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T

No. 419.

The‘B1’had made the journey

south from its NorthYorkshire

Moors Railway home, whereas

Bo’ness & Kinneil-based No. 419

had added the gala to its 2019

tour of English heritage lines.

Both locos helped dilute the

GWSR’s strong GreatWestern

flavour, and together with

resident‘Merchant Navy’

Above: Nos. 7903Foremarke
Halland 6023King Edward II
work away from Winchcombe
during the Gloucestershire
Warwickshire Railway’s
Cotswold Festival of Steam on
May 27.RICK EBORALL

No. 35006Peninsular & Oriental

SN Coensured each of the

‘Big Four’was represented.

However, it was the GWR

that notched up the largest

attendance, crowned by‘King’

No. 6023King Edward II,courtesy

of the GreatWestern Society at

Didcot, and supported by

home-based‘Modified Hall’

No. 7903Foremarke Hall,‘Manor’

No. 7820Dinmore Manor,‘42XX’

2-8-0T No. 4270, and‘28XX’2-8-0

No. 2807.

Busy timetable

For the first time the railway

was able to field four Mk1

train sets, consisting of two

eight-coach rakes, one of six

coaches and one of five, the

latter specifically for the‘Caley’

tank.The busy timetable worked

very well, with more than 90%

running to time, and those that

didn’t only being a few minutes

behind time.

All locomotives performed well,

working singly or double-headed,

to offer a variety of combinations

for photographers.The one

exception was No. 419, which ran

a hot‘box in normal service on

theThursday before the gala.

An all-out effort by the GWSR

loco department and the SRPS

representatives saw the loco

stripped, which revealed a small

piece of swarf between the

bearing and the journal, while

the oilways on both bearings

were blocked.

The bearings were

subsequently re-machined and

re-shimmed and the journals

cleaned, and the loco was back in

one piece by the Friday evening.

Light engine test runs revealed

no warming of the bearing, but

as a precaution the loco was

allocated to light goods shunting

atWinchcombe with long

periods in the platform. It was

later trialled on the five-coach set

fromWinchcombe to Broadway,

but on it return toWinchcombe

one of the bearings was found to

be unacceptably warm again. As

a consequence No. 419 spent the

rest of the gala on the shunting

turn, which itself proved to be a

popular if unexpected attraction.

“All in all, despite the odd

gloomy and damp moments,

the weather was kind and all ran

smoothly,”GWSR press officer Ian

Crowder toldThe RM.

“Popular features included the

North Gloucestershire Railway’s

two narrow gauge locos, traction

engines and the beer tent, while

Gotherington station was also

open to visitors.

Classic buses

“We also had classic bus services

linking Broadway village to

the station and Cheltenham

Racecourse with the Network

Rail station in Cheltenham, to say

nothing of the sell-out footplate

rides and‘driver for a tenner’at

the racecourse.”

The‘B1’remained on the

railway during the week after the

gala to work normal service trains,

whileKing Edward IIwill remain at

the GWSR until the end of August,

and will be regularly rostered for

normal timetable turns.

The Thompson B1 Locomotive Trust’s‘B1’No. 1264 departs

Winchcombe and rounds Chicken Curve during the Cotswold

Festival of Steam on May 25.IAN CROWDER

Caledonian Railway 0-4-4T No. 419 covered the DMU diagram

on the GWSR’s Blue timetable on May 23 as a test run before the

Cotswold Festival of Steam. It is seen near Laverton with the 10.50

Broadway-Cheltenham service that day.GRAHAM NUTTALL