‘You do the hokey cokey... ’

I had been expecting my first few blog posts to be solely reliant on information provided by other sources, not because of the day job, but because I’m spending a lot of time every Saturday getting well acquainted with the inside of the Tim Mitchell building due to various theory classes and AGMs. Thankfully this weekend’s rules and signals session only lasted a couple of hours, meaning I could whizz up to Toddington for the afternoon.

Looks like 4270 is still clinging on to some of that Christmas spirit

Since I started working in the shed back in November, I’ve been spending most of my time working with the P&O group; a source of personal amusement considering I’m a born and bred Swindonian (I promise I’m not trying to sabotage the Southern engine…). This week’s task was replacing the firebox grate fingers. It had been noticed some had gone distinctly banana-like and so were stopping the grate from rocking as it should.

Steve talking to Clive in the firebox

New fingers awaiting installation

Clive was already in the firebox well underway with the task, and upon my arrival I was pressed into action and clambered on in as well. Half of the fingers have been replaced outright with new ones, and the rest were simply trimmed of excess where they have swollen due to heat.

Waiting on the front fingers to be trimmed

As it happened, some of the normally hard to reach stays needed a bit of a cleanup, so time waiting on the fingers to be machined was spent tapping and wire-brushing those until an arm bearing metal gifts appeared through the firebox door.

Interesting trying to find places to put your feet

What then followed was an afternoon spent doing my best wheelbarrow impression clambering in and out of the firebox, feeling a little like I was doing the ‘hokey cokey’. The fact that the person who was asked to do this job just happens to be closer to 5 foot than 6 foot in height is completely coincidental I’m sure. Thankfully I was able to escape and take a wander around every so often under the guise of ‘official blogging duties’.

Quite roomy when you’re 5’3

The upper windows of the welfare building now have sheets covering them to keep out the elements, which I’m judging to mean that progress continues to be made on the roof, despite the recent weather conditions. I don’t think I’m at liberty to share the name of the new building yet, so something to keep your eyes peeled for.

The welfare building is coming along nicely

Across from 35006, I could see 4270 was receiving some tlc from Stuart and Andy B. When I climbed up, I was informed that around 3 shovelfuls of gunk and grime had been cleaned off throughout the course of the day, so it was a job well worth doing. The remaining tinsel was still in place when I left for the day, however.

4270’s footplate is slightly smaller than 35006’s

Work on 3850 continues, however I am woefully devoid of information on that topic because as I wandered past, no one working on it was around to ask what was happening. I've since been told that the group was busy working on her tender. 

3850, complete with Not to Be Moved board

2807 astonishes me every time I see her. This past weekend, ‘Team R’ were kept busy as they had 12 volunteers to keep well fuelled, but with some heat, elbow grease and persuasion she’s slowly coming apart. Our sources tell me that the boiler is now devoid of all but three awkwardly located boiler tubes (which then had to be cut up so they could then fit in the skip), and during my wander round on Saturday I could see needle-guns being used on the boiler barrel itself. Plans may have to be changed regarding work being done on the boiler and foundation ring due to various mitigating factors (one crane lift or two?) but no doubt these will all be resolved in due course.

Slowly turning more orange than green (Image by Roger Molesworth)

Finally, keen-eyed readers will have noticed an interesting element to my photos. My decision not to update the date and time on my camera when I turned it on for the first time in six years has now come back to haunt me as we now seemingly have time-travelled back to 2014. This has now been updated, and rest assured, any further images will be correctly time-stamped (until I figure out how to turn that setting off!).

Moving swiftly on!

If you are a regular to the steam department blog you will be aware that Ray, your previous scribe, has decided to step back from his regular writing duties to allow himself to concentrate on his new role as the department training manager. The new kids on the block, Bryony, Tom and myself, would like to kick off by thanking Ray for contributing so much to the blog and setting the bar so high! It is going to be a tough act to follow and we thought we would kick off with a rare photo of him I captured whilst I was his cleaner on a turn in 2017.

Oi! Put that camera away!

This picture also takes us nicely onto the matter of 2807. The loco has only been out of traffic for twenty one days but the group has made an impressive start to the heavy general overhaul. A representative from the 2807 group, Roger, has been sending us updates on the progress so far. Last Saturday it was the department's AGM and at the meeting Roger also gave a swift update on progress so far. The first step was to section up the loco into eight parts and associate a team to each which looked something like this...

I think the most important team was Team R and whilst they were filling the kettle, team A (in the cab) got off to a slow start. They were finding access to many of the fittings restricted by other fittings, cab floor or pipework. However by the end of the day a large number of the fittings were removed leaving just a handful.

Before...Image by Roger Molesworth

Angela from the cab team removing more fittings. Image by Roger Molesworth

After. Image by Roger Molesworth

David, Ian and Bruce removed the washout plugs and mud-hole doors whilst Ian also unbolted the smokebox from the boiler barrel and loosened the bolts on the safety valve so that it would be ready for removal. They even found the time to hoover out the smokebox!

Ian and Bruce removing washout plugs. Image by Roger Molesworth.

Undressing 2807 was down to David M and John G who started removing the cladding from the cylinders before then moving onto the boiler barrel. At this point they found out that being part time contortionists came in very handy to gain access to the bolts under the boiler barrel to undo the boiler bands.

David removing the last bolt. Image by Roger Molesworth. 

By the 14 January the team in the cab had made quite a lot of progress and they were ready to remove the roof which then also allowed the remainder of the firebox cladding to be removed.

Up! Up and away! Image by Roger Molesworth.

Last piece of cladding being removed. Image by Roger Molesworth.

Ian spent a day inside the firebox cutting out the tubes whilst Bruce, Neil, Geoff and Roger were at the other end pulling the tubes out. Upon inspection the tubes looked in excellent condition with no pitting and there was a good thickness of metal left due to the water treatment used at the GWSR.

To me! To you! Image by Roger Molesworth.

Cross section of a removed tube. Image by Roger Molesworth.

What a difference twenty one days can make. Here is a before shot of 2807 on one of her last days in steam and how she ended up at the end of the day on Saturday.

2807 running into Winchcombe. Image by Roger Molesworth.

2807 at the end of play Saturday 18 January 2020. Image by Roger Molesworth. 

The team have made a great start so far however, there is still a huge way to go and for more updates keep an eye on the 2807 blog http://gwr2807.blogspot.com

And it's Goodbye From Him

You will have noticed by now, that my blog posts have become less frequent in recent times.  The truth is that your humble scribe has been struggling to keep up with the demands of my employers (who cling to the quaint notion that I should be at their beck and call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in order to receive my meagre stipend), my grown up children and the expanding brood of grandchildren.  Somewhere in amongst all this is shoe-horned an ever increasing amount of GWSR related activities.  To be fair to the above list of diversions from blog writing, there are only a limited number of ways that you can relate the events of a day on the footplate and make it interesting. If only I had managed to find one of those ways.  The good news for anybody who reads this blog, is that the time has come to hand over the reins to somebody else... in fact three somebody elses.  Between them, they should make a rather better and indeed more frequent job of it than I have.  

The only blog post that I wanted to do, but never actually got round to was a comparison of all of our home fleet locos from a fireman's point of view.  They all have features that are infuriating and they all have features that are so good that you wish the others had them too.  My ideal loco would have a centre section drop grate and one piece ash pan like Dinmore Manor (makes it a dream to dispose), a Swindon number one boiler like 2807 & Foremarke Hall, two water gauges (you won't often hear me say that Churchward got something wrong, but...)  and dual handled blower like 35006.  It would have the all round visibility of 4270 & 9466, yet a capacious tender with tender coal spray like 35006.  The injectors would be from 4270 (always work perfectly first time) and I am quite fond of the combined steam/vacuum brake on 9466 (it speeds up the uncoupling process considerably).  A roomy cab like 35006 along with its infinitely adjustable dampers would also be good.   I'll spare you from a description of the worst bits of our home fleet.

The big advantages of writing this blog by myself is that I have enjoyed the luxury of keeping any of my own shortcomings from being broadcast to the world, along with keeping pictures of me out of public view.  I expect that will change... you can't have everything.

The gallant team who will be keeping you up to date with all the latest occurrences in the steam loco dept are:

1) Luke,

Luke passed out as a fireman late last year.  My first impressions of Luke were favourable, he always turned up for cleaning turns with enough bacon & rolls to feed the crew and he was a dab hand at brewing tea.  These are unsurprisingly the ideal attributes for any cleaner who aspires to becoming passed out as a fireman. Luke has the dubious distinction of being the only person to pass out as a driver or fireman whilst this blog has been going to have missed out on having a picture taken for posterity.  I shall make up for that now by posting this picture of him:

Luke, on King Edward II (photo courtesy of Ian Crowder)

2) Tom,
Tom has just started fireman training and had his first official training turn in December.  My most vivid recollection of Tom, is that although he is right handed, he fires naturally left handed and did much better when that way round.  Still, he's moved on from being a problem for the blog writer, to being a problem for the training manager now.

Tom, on Foremarke Hall, firing the wrong way round for him

Tom, with a bacon buttie... quite possibly cooked on the shovel by Luke.

 3) Bryony,
Last, but not least, Bryony is starting to learn the fireman theory and will have sat through a lesson or two on Rules & Signals by now. She has a distinct advantage in that she is already qualified as a guard on the GWSR and will have covered a lot of the footplate rules and signals already.  It will be refreshing to have a lady's view of the steam loco dept, I'm sure that she will notice and report on no end of things that I wouldn't have spotted.  Unfortunately photos of Bryony on this blog at least are a very scarce commodity indeed.   I can find one of her dad who she organised a footplate ride for during the last gala:

Bryony's dad posing on Foremarke Hall

Photos of Bryony herself though, well the best I can manage is this, when she was the guard for the most recent Dinmore Manor Locomotive LTD supporters' day:

Bryony, fourth from the left sat on the platform

I will not be completely retiring from this blog, I will still pass on photos to Luke, Tom & Bryony, hopefully with some explanatory text. In the run up to the gala, I'll be throwing in the odd post all by myself regarding the visiting locos.  Keep the late May bank holiday weekend free for the Cotswold Festival of Steam!

Thank you for reading this far.  Thank you too to the band of people who regularly sent me photos for inclusion in this blog, it always helped when I couldn't make it along to interesing events if somebody else was there to take pictures for me.  For now, it's over to the dynamic trio, please be gentle with them.

Come in Number 2807, Your Time is Up!

It's been a bit of a busy end to the year for your humble scribe, over the 5 day period commencing on Christmas Eve, I was doing something on the railway for four of those days.  I have always enjoyed being on the footplate on Christmas Eve, this year, it was with John as my driver and Matt as the cleaner... our steed was the lovely Dinmore Manor:

Deck the Hall Manor with boughs of holly...

...plenty of time for sausages & bacon, Matt making good use of the shovel here...

...and here in the more conventional manner.

Crossing 35006 at Gotherington

It was quite sunny some of the time...

...quite a pleasant day in fact.

Coaling up at the end of the day

Christmas Day was a non-running day, aside from Roger who was rostered to put in the warming fires for the Boxing Day turns, not many people would have been about.

I was back again on Boxing Day as a relief fireman for the last trip of the day on Dinmore Manor.  The Santa specials were over now, we had progressed on to Mince Pie specials, running to the usual red timetable

John was my driver again

Mrs Blogger was riding on the cushions for this trip and very kindly fetched me a cup of tea whilst we were running round our stock at Cheltenham Race Course. 

Most welcome

All too soon, we were back at Toddington and putting Dinmore Manor to bed again.  Not everybody enjoys firing in the dark, but I find it to quite be an interesting challenge.

Waiting at the bracket at Toddington

Waiting to be coaled up again

Moving on to the 27th, I had planned to do some stripping of paint off of a selection of 3850's motion along with a few admin tasks. In the end, whilst I did a bit of that, I also allowed a small tortoiseshell butterfly (at least Mrs Blogger identified it as such, don't blame me if it's some other kind of fritillary) to escape from the ops office.  It was obviously a bit too warm in there and it decided that it wanted somewhere a bit cooler to hibernate.

The price of freedom is having your photo taken of course!

9466 trundled by

Unexpectedly there was a swift stock relocation undertaken and I got roped into helping out... a couple of carriages that had been requisitioned by Santa and placed in the parlour road at Toddingtion now wanted taking back to Winchcombe, whilst a flat wagon wanted to come back to Toddington.  It all had to interleave seamlessly between the service trains of course.

It was on unusual traction for me though... where do you put the coal?

Lamps have now been fitted to the lamp stands in the yard at Toddington, they come on automagically when it gets dark and look absolutely wonderful.  It's little touches like this that complete the ambience of a heritage railway and they are extremely useful as well.  I understand that they have been noted and commented upon favourably by representatives of other heritage railways who would like similar lamps on their lines.

First yard lamp (photo courtesy of Jo Roesen)

Second yard lamp (photo courtesy of Jo Roesen)

 One lamp stand came from Fencote Station and the other from auction, but it had previously been installed at Dumbleton Village Club.  Both lamps are modern replicas.

Moving on to the 28th, which was a Saturday.   Saturdays are usually quite busy at Toddington, however I suspect that one or two may have overdone the festivities as it was fairly quiet.  I finally got round to finishing off stripping paint off of a couple of lifting links, one lifting link bracket and a hanging link from 3850.  Into the bargain I cleaned out all the oil pots and blew the oilways through with an air line to make sure that there were no obstructions.

Blowing through an oilway

A selection of 3850's motion parts, freshly de-painted

I think that the plan from here is that they will be non-destructively tested (NDT) before being painted and re-installed on the loco, all the bearings were showing no sign of wear and were deemed to be fit for further service.

There are a few loco restoration projects that grabbed my attention over the years for one reason or another, frequent family holidays in North Cornwall ensured  that 34007 Wadebridge being restored only a few miles away from the town it was named after at the Bodmin & Wenford Railway was one such. 6023, King Edward II which I remember as a school boy seeing parked in the fish dock at Bristol Temple Meads for a while was one too.  I have been fortunate enough to have fired both of these after their return to steam at the GWSR. Another restoration project that grabbed my attention more than most was 2807 and checking up on its progress whenever I visited was a must. It was something of a privilege therefore to be rostered on her for her last day in traffic during her current boiler ticket on New Year's Day.  To tell the exact truth, I was originally rostered down as crew 3 on New Year's Day, taking over 9466 at lunchtime. I proposed a switch with Jonathan who was the crew 2 fireman (on 2807).  Jonathan decided that my offer to let him fire 9466 in my stead (which he had yet to have a turn on) with its nice fully enclosed and warm cab would be the ideal turn for him on a doubtless cold, wet & miserable winter's day.  In the end, it was dry (admittedly overcast), not too cold, and 9466 failed so he didn't get a go on it in the end anyway.  He did benefit from an extra few hours in bed, not having to sign on anywhere near as early as me, so I don't feel too guilty.

Condensation in the wood store meant that the prep crew had a bit of a struggle getting 2807 lit up in the morning, but she was still ready to go on time.

2807, coming round for the last time

Driver for the day was Chris... he brought all the ingredients for bacon butties on the shovel

As might have been expected, the great and the good of Cotswold Steam Preservation LTD (CSPL) turned up for a last ride behind their loco in her first boiler ticket and were duly lined up in front of the loco for a photo call.  Ian, the GWSR's press officer was on hand to capture the scene for posterity.  Unusual for it not to be me behind the camera.

Ian doing the honours with his camera

The star of the show

CSPL had reserved a coach for their members, but just to put them off the scent, the coach had a reserved notice in the window declaring it to be 2897's final journey.  The real 2897's final journey had been to Cashmore's in Newport, shortly after her withdrawal from 86G (Pontypool Rd) on 31st Jan 1964 (yes, I looked for that online, I don't simply know all this stuff you know)

The perils of not proof reading are well known to me as well

Crossing Dinmore Manor at Toddington

Once again, Mrs blogger knew exactly what was wanted and delivered tea to the footplate... several times during the day.  I sometimes wonder if she secretly harbours the desire to volunteer with the On Train Catering team.

Most welcome, yet again.

Ten extremely successful years done, 2807 relaxes at the end of the day

Rather than look up a whole load of history about 2807 to bring you, I thought that somebody must have done that bit of research already, so I asked Gilbert of CSPL and he sent me a 17 MB file. Here are the edited highlights:

• No. 2807 is the oldest remaining Churchward standard locomotive.
• No. 2807 is the oldest remaining British 2-8-0.
• No. 2807 was the first steam locomotive to arrive at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.
• No. 2807 is the oldest survivor of the 2800 class.
• No. 2807 is the oldest locomotive built by the Great Western Railway and now owned privately.
• No. 2807 is the oldest locomotive to have been saved from Woodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry.

Steam locomotive No. 2807 was built by the G.W.R. at Swindon and completed in October 1905, as part of the initial batch of the G.W.R. 2800 class of 2-8-0 heavy freight engines.

The 2800 class was designed during the period when Churchward was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the G.W.R. Under his stewardship, nine highly successful locomotive types, with maximum component standardisation, were introduced. Boilers, cylinders, pistons, wheels etc. were standardised and interchangeable between classes. Churchward's design practices were ahead of their time. They were adopted by Chief Mechanical Engineers of other railways and were still in use as late as 1947.

On 26 February 1906, identical sister locomotive No. 2808 hauled a record-breaking train from Swindon to Acton. The trainload of coal was made up of 20 twenty ton, 6 twelve ton, 78 ten ton, 2 nine ton and 1 eight ton capacity coal wagons. Assembled at Swindon, the whole train totalled 2012 tons, including the dynamometer car and brake van. This record by a production locomotive stood during the whole steam era, surpassed only by the one-off prototype G.W.R. locomotive The Great Bear which hauled 2375 tons in 1909.

Following early shed allocations to Westbourne Park and Old Oak Common in the Paddington area, in 1911 No. 2807 embarked upon eight years of coal traffic in South Wales, operating first from Aberdare and later Pontypool Road.

An early photo of 2807 with inside steam pipes, squared front end and lamp bracket on top of the smokebox. She has the earlier tall safety valve cover. She also has her original copper capped chimney at this point too.  She's not entirely as built though as the smoke box has already been lengthened beyond the saddle and support arms added.

The first World War saw No. 2807 performing on the famous "Jellicoe Specials", hauling Welsh steam coal destined for the Grand Fleet at Scappa Flow. GWR 2800 class engines worked the South Wales to Lancashire section of this round the clock service.

After the First World war, No. 2807 moved to Bristol and later, in 1924 to Tyseley, from where she is believed to have frequently visited the Stratford - Cheltenham main line, passing through Broadway, Toddington and Winchcombe. Subsequent pre-nationalisation shed allocations included Newton Abbot, Bristol St Philips Marsh, Llanelli, Wolverhampton Stafford Road, Cardiff (Canton) and Hereford.

A later photo, outside steam pipes, curved front end and the top lamp  bracket is now on the smokebox door. The smokebox number plate says this is in the BR (post 1948) era.

After she moved to Worcester in 1951, No. 2807 once again became a frequent visitor to the Stratford - Cheltenham main line. After brief postings to Chester, Newport (Ebbw Junction) and Newton Abbott, No. 2807 moved to her final allocation, Severn Tunnel Junction, in April 1960.

2807 at Barry, the cladding has come adrift revealing asbestos heritage insulating material.  She still has her coupling rods, but her connecting rods are missing, CSPL had to get new ones made.

Preservation Milestones:

1981	Saved from Barry scrapyard
1982	Dismantling begins
	Chassis and wheels moved to Tyseley
	Tender tank moved to Brierley Hill
1993	Chassis and wheels back to Toddington
1994	Tender tanks back to Toddington
1996	Locomotive re-wheeled
1997	Smokebox and chimney fitted
1999	2807 towed to Winchcombe for display
2002	Coupling rods fitted
2005	Boiler fitted for the first time since 1982
	Last main motion rods fitted
	Boiler and LHS Cylinder cladding fitted
2006	Boiler moved to Llangollen for repairs
2007	Tender operational and features at Llangollen ‘Steel, Steam and Stars’ Gala with No. 3802
2009	Repairs to boiler structure completed
	Chassis moved to Llangollen ready for fitment of boiler
	Wheels removed to fit new tyres
2010	Chassis reassembled and boiler tested
	Tender painted and sent to Llangollen
	Boiler fitted to chassis, tender connected
	Test running at Llangollen, loco & tender return to Toddington for service

Finally, here are a few of my memories of her over the years.  My first encounter with her would have been at Barry in 1978 (alas no photos of her from then) and since then during numerous visits to the GWSR prior to me volunteering there.  The earlier of those would be pre-digital and I can't face ferreting about in the attic for my old photo albums.  We'll have to start from my digital era.

A boilerless 2807 during restoration at Toddington 16th July 2004...

...and again 15th May 2005, approaching her centenary

 Not too long after she returned to steam in 2010, she paid a visit to the West Somerset Railway

Getting ready to depart Bishops Lydeard, 19th March 2011...

...Pulling out of Bishops Lydeard.

 I started volunteering at the GWSR during the time of the Chicken Curve landslip, when steam operations only ran from Winchcombe to Cheltenham Race Course, with the steam dept temporarily accommodated alongside the C&W dept. 

2807 being lit up in the early morning light at Winchcombe

 2807 was the first steam loco to return from Winchcomeb to Toddington once Chicken Curve's landslip had been fixed, I was lucky enough to be the cleaner that day.

27th October 2012, 2807 becomes the first steam loco to cross Chicken Curve since the landslip was fixed.

Exiting Greet tunnel 24th March 2012

2807.. well her shadow anyway, 11th May 2013

Taking her place in the line up for the "Big 4 Gala", 27th May 2013

Crossing Stanway viaduct, 29th December 2013

Making Friends with Thomas, 22nd June 2014

 A memorable photo charter with 2807 on 16th March 2015 produced the scene below.  Laverton loop looking just like a section of double track line and the stationary p-way train on the left made it look like she had just crossed another freight train going the other way.

Doing what she was built for

 My favourite photo that I have taken over the years of 2807 is this glint shot at Gotherington at the very end of the 2016 season

2807 on 2nd Jan 2017

 It has been a privilege to have spent much of her ten year ticket with her in one way or another.  She is an absolutely wonderful loco and I can't wait until Cotswold Steam Preservation LTD return her to steam once more for another ten years.