Speed to the West

Details of the impending "Cotswold Festival of Steam" gala on May 23rd - 25th are beginning to gel together.  The title of the gala is "Speed to the West" and the theme will be holiday trains.   Holiday trains would once have been encountered in the summer season heading to a wide variety of seaside destinations in the West of the country.  Hopefully most, if not all trains during the gala will be sent off with appropriate headboards.

We intend to have seven locos in steam, four from the home fleet and three visitors.  The home fleet will consist of:

Churchward 2-8-0, 2807:

2807 during the 2014 Christmas Cracker gala.

Churchward 2-8-0T, 4270:

4270 on a demonstration freight train during last year's Back to Black gala.

Collett, 2-6-2T, 5542

5542 at Gotherington during last years Back to Black gala.

Collett, 4-6-0, 7820, Dinmore Manor.  

Dinmore Manor on Chicken Curve during the 2014 Christmas Cracker

 Manor class locomotives are of course closely associated with the Cambrian Coast Express trains.  28XX and 42XX locos being designed for freight use, rarely propelled passenger trains, but when they did it was often at the head of holiday specials. We have reports from one time BR men of 42XXs passing through Cardiff at the head of holiday trains.  5542 being a long time Taunton locomotive would frequently have found herself taking holidaymakers up the branch from Taunton to the resorts of Watchett, Blue Anchor and Minehead.

That brings us onto the guest locomotives.  The first to be confirmed was unrebuilt West Country class, Bulleid Pacific, 34092, City of Wells courtesy of the 34092 Partnership which is based on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway.  As far as our theme is concerned, 34092 fits in perfectly with the Atlantic Coast Express trains from Waterloo to the seaside resorts of the north Devon and north Cornwall coasts.

As 34092 has only very recently returned to service after a lengthy rebuild, I'm sorry to have to report that I have no operating photos of her in my own archives however I am able to bring you these.

The final BR logo was known unofficially as "The Arrows of Indecision", but there is absolutely nothing indecisive about this one

Photo courtesy of John Sagar

 Oops, spoke to soon, she is currently running as "Wells", her original name, not "City of Wells" to which she was renamed in 1950.

Photo courtesy of John Sagar

 Back in steam and looking absolutely gorgeous:

Photo courtesy of John Sager

That brings us on to our second gala guest loco. We are pleased to be able to present 34007, Wadebridge a second unrebuilt West Country.  Wadebridge possesses all the same credentials for our gala theme as Wells of course.  This is a loco close to my heart as I have taken many holidays in north Cornwall over the years and of course spending much time visiting the Bodmin & Wenford Railway where she was restored from Barry scrapyard condition. The Bodmin & Wenford Railway is just a few miles from the town of Wadebridge itself, which in turn is just a few miles from Padstow, the terminus of the Atlantic Coast Express. She comes to us thanks to the Mid-Hants Railway and Wadebridge (34007) Locomotive LTD.

34007, Wadebridge hauling a demonstration freight train on the Mid-Hants Railway

34007, Wadebridge departing Boscarne Junction on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway

34007, wadebridge at Charlie's Gate on the Bodmin & Wenford Railway.

There is a third tender engine under negotiation to complete the line up. It is currently planned to have all three visiting locomotives facing north for our gala which opens up interesting double heading opportunities with both West Countries.

So there you are, already a dazzling line up of locomotive power and there is still the one more loco in the pipeline that will hopefully be able to be disclosed in the near future.  Keep the dates free in your diary, it's going to be a fabulous event.  Advance tickets are available for booking online.  As was the case for the last two years, brake van rides and footplate rides on selected home fleet locos will be available too.  Details of how to order footplate rides online have not yet been made available on the main GWSR website, I will alert you when they have.

As always, all the usual caveats apply, steam locos are old, may fail etc.  We can't guarantee that any locomotive will not fail or otherwise be unavailable during the gala.