Life on the railway is anything but dull, both on the mainline network and in the heritage sector. In recent weeks, the expression "Best laid plans" from the poem by Robert Burns has come to mind on various occasions, and you'll soon understand why as you read through this latest instalment. Locomotive operation and overhauls are far from easy tasks and require a great deal of time, effort, perseverance, and considerable patience. To say that things have been rather challenging for the department of late would be a bit of an understatement. In the last update, I referred to the spinning of multiple plates, and nothing has changed in that regard. Copious amounts of tea and biscuits only get you so far!
When we last saw 35006, she was up on the jacks, and her wheelsets were being removed. My last visit to Toddington was on Friday, 27th March, and by this time, all the axles had been removed with the exception of the rear trailing truck. "Surely, that's not going to be too difficult to remove?"...or so we thought! After spending virtually a whole day on it, Ash, Steve, John and I still couldn't get it to budge. This was after removing multiple components, reviewing the loco drawings, and using more and more colourful language. But as you all know, in this department, we are not easily defeated.
When we last saw 35006, she was up on the jacks, and her wheelsets were being removed. My last visit to Toddington was on Friday, 27th March, and by this time, all the axles had been removed with the exception of the rear trailing truck. "Surely, that's not going to be too difficult to remove?"...or so we thought! After spending virtually a whole day on it, Ash, Steve, John and I still couldn't get it to budge. This was after removing multiple components, reviewing the loco drawings, and using more and more colourful language. But as you all know, in this department, we are not easily defeated.
35006 on the jacks inside the DP Shed - 27th March 2026
The following Tuesday, the offending trailing truck finally gave in, and here is the result...
Despite not being able to make it down to Toddington as much as I'd like, I'm fortunately sent various updates and content to include in this blog. I hope the following is of interest and I've done my best to keep things in chronological order.
76077 / Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited Update - 23rd March 2026 - Written by TSLL
Recent sterling work by Graham at LMS has seen the left hand rear cylinder cladding coming together. Still some way to go with fixing tabs and final fit fettling but once we’re happy we can use it as templates for the right hand side.
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76077 / Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited Update - 29th March 2026 - Written by TSLL
We had a good working party at Toddington yesterday but before I put up pictures of our efforts, I thought I'd show the latest news with our tender wheelsets which were delivered to Toddington on Thursday. This is what we’ve done with them since purchasing them from the bluebell railway. Captions with the pictures. If you want to see more progress and help us, do check out the website https://standard76077.com/support-76077/ where you will find ways to help.
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76077 / Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited Update - 30 March 2026 - Written by TSLL
Other than the wheelset work shown in the previous update, above, 8 of us cracked on with other jobs during the day. Additionally to the work shown here, we also picked up more boiler fittings for cleaning and checking, so plenty to keep us busy. Descriptions with the photos.
This newly fabricated bracket mounts on the LHS of the firebox and holds the duplex ejector steam valve. Cleaned up, it was then given a coat of red oxide - Photo courtesy of TSLL
We’ve managed to get hold of an AWS ‘sunflower’ which will be mounted in the cab. This is being stripped and then given a coat of etch primer - Photo courtesy of TSLL
Keith carried on cleaning and stripping the main manifold. Alastair made two blanking plates as we need to pressurise the casting to make sure it’s fit for purpose. We already know of some remedial machining required and so its gone off-site for this to happen - Photo courtesy of TSLL
Keith completed the machining of one end of the new brake pull rod required. This requires welding by a coded welder due to it being safety critical. Keith moved onto starting the work on the other end - Photo courtesy of TSLL
This is the bracket that the regulator handle fits to plus the AWS sunflower. We want to have it all assembled for the GWSR gala in May, so I’m giving the bracket a bit of a tidy up having been painted some years ago - Photo courtesy of TSLL
Finally, Matthew cut and shaped the curved steel ident plate which is seen here ready for fixing to the new sanding valve - Photo courtesy of TSLL
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2807 / Cotswold Steam Preservation Limited (CSPL) Update W/E 4th April 2026 - Written by Graham Bondi
Absent but not forgotten, I have news. Over the past 2 weeks, Roger 3, David Moore and I have not been idle and more importantly, neither was IC and Ash.
Quite a bit of our time was taken up by painting the parapet of the GWSR bridge 28. Although not strictly an item for 2807 news, it is good for us to be seen doing this. It builds goodwill with GWSR and frees IC up to work on our stuff, at least in theory! Starting to look pretty.
Ian and Ash managed to get coordinated and spent a whole day putting rivets in the front drag box. It is quite exciting because they tackled 4 really awkward top corner rivets and 20-odd easier ones. Getting the 4 corner rivets in is a big deal because it clears the way to fit the front step panels. With those in place, the long H beams can then be fitted, allowing the top plates to be positioned. After IC did the riveting, David Moore and Geof got on with cleaning up the rivets and painting them. So BIG progress on the front drag box. IC is keen to fit the RHS front steps asap. So he drilled the holes for riveting the step plate in place, but decreed that there was rust under the paint on the inside face of the steps.
So Geof set to and needled, gunned, primed, and undercoated the offending plate (and a bit on the rear drag box where the H beam will be riveted into place).
Meanwhile, the RHS H beam was brought inside the shed, placed beside the frames and measured to double check it would fit when lifted into place.
Looking ahead to next week and through to the end of April, I see progress on the tender dictated by the progress of riveting by IC. However, since Ashley is now working full-time at GWSR, coordinating his availability with IC should be easier. There will be some gloss painting of the frames to finish. However, the priority will perhaps shift to working on the siphon. We would like to see the roof being repainted and some serious work being done to repaint the sides, especially where there is bare, sound wood needing protection. We have plastic sheeting to replace the damaged tarpaulin on the roof of the Siphon once it is repainted. So, no real shortage of things to do for everyone who can paint!
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2807 / Cotswold Steam Preservation Limited (CSPL) Update W/E 11th April 2026 - Written by Graham Bondi
Saturday 11th April 2026
It was the vintage weekend event today, and I will start with a couple of pictures:
This was the 11:55 departure from Toddington to Cheltenham
Racecourse
The GWR Railcar No. 22 was in the Parlour Road
It made a nice backdrop to the Morris Minor display
There were quite a few in today: Geof, Gilbert, Fred, Roger 3, Richard and me. Teresa was helping with the event. As reported last week, the 2807 team have been helping out with the bridge parapet ironwork. This has allowed Ian more time on our tender, especially more riveting with Ashley. Geof spent the day on this.
I noticed the very small paintbrush. I asked Geof what he had done wrong – it looked like one of those military-style disciplinary punishments, like pealing 5cwt of potatoes for the regimental Christmas dinner. Nope, 99.9% had been done with a good-sized brush. The ¼” brush was purely for the finishing touches where the diagonals meet the outer frame.
Roger 3 was busy painting, while Ian had finished some riveting.
Green anti-corrosion primer on bare rivets and black undercoat on primed areas.
I made a start on descaling the tender sump cover plate.
Gilbert and Fred were tidying and sorting the top shelf in the container in order to create some space. I gave them a hand for a short time. We now have some spare jars. I have been suffering from a bad back. It could have been caused by a number of things, but a prime suspect is the bench in the container where a herculean effort has been required to prise a drawer open. I had a go at improving things, see opposite.
I started on the BS/Whitworth spanner drawers. I took the spanners out, cleaned out the drawers and put grease on the runners. I sorted out the spanners into roughly small, larger and even larger. I put any AF and metric spanners where they should be. I did not throw out any spanners that were duplicated a number of times; someone else can make this decision. Richard helped me for a while before he went off to work on the boot scrapers.
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76077 / Toddington Standard Locomotive Limited Update - 15th April 2026 - Written by TSLL
We haven’t posted much news on the boiler lately, but a recent social media post from Leaky finders and a visit from two of our directors last week has seen some tangible progress made. Image copyright leaky finders Ltd and TSLL.
The new throat plate pressing alongside the old one. It’s being marked up ready for carefully cutting to size - Photo courtesy of TSLL
A test of the throat plate to the foundation ring (everything is upside down in the image) - Photo courtesy of TSLL
And now for a test to the rest of the throat plate. This will be welded to the existing plate - Photo courtesy of TSLL
These are the plywood templates for the new steel firebox half sides - Photo courtesy of TSLL
And finally, the old Monel stays that were marked for changing have been drilled out and new steel stays are currently being produced ready to be fitted - Photo courtesy of TSLL
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2807 / Cotswold Steam Preservation Limited (CSPL) Update W/E 18th April 2026 - Written by Graham Bondi
On Tuesday, 14th April, 2807 was stopped with a horn guide fault. A thin piece of metal that sits at right angles to the main slide face had slipped down.
It
can be seen just left of centre and perhaps better understood by looking at an
axle box from another 2-8-0.
It is like the thin piece of metal lying horizontally in this orientation. It is not a common fault, which is just as well since it is a major job to carry out the repair. We will also try to find out if there is an underlying cause. The job requires the intermediate axle to be dropped, and this requires the use of the main heavy-duty jacks. Before this, all the rods have to be removed, and various things under the frames have to be taken off.
I went in on Friday to assist Geof in the removal of the rods. I was in time to help with the removal of the steam heat pipe, and then we moved on to the con rod.
I went in on Friday to assist Geof in the removal of the rods. I was in time to help with the removal of the steam heat pipe, and then we moved on to the con rod.
Once the threaded security pin has been removed, a special tool is used to remove the main big end nut. Meanwhile, Geof was dealing with the small-end gudgeon pin.
Once the nut has been removed, a special tool is used to draw out the pin – or would have been if Geof could have found it. Fortunately, Ashley was nearby and helped Geof get it out without the tool. Once removed, the crosshead was slid forward out of the way.
The con rod was carefully chocked on a hydraulic trolley before the big end was prised off.
After lunch we were joined by Andrew B who had been booked to do a warming fire before his fireman’s turn on Saturday, but with 6880 out of action too there was no fire to warm! He was very helpful in getting the coupling rods off.
The trolleys will be adjusted to just take the weight of each rod so that they can be slid off. Note P&O in the background. They are having to take the trouble to get it off the jacks, but the railway requires 2807 fit to run again asap – needs must.
All the LHS rods are carefully stored out of the way.
Perhaps I should have made clear at the beginning that it was the left intermediate horn guide that had the fault, the order of the wheels being: leading, intermediate, driving and trailing. This view was taken on Saturday when I was removing the locking nuts from the intermediate spring hangers. Three nuts are resting on the spanner – the fourth is a rogue size for which I could not find a spanner to fit. Gilbert has suggested looking in the siphon.
Talking of Saturday, there was a good turnout to take off the RHS rods.
This side is more difficult because of the vac pump. Gilbert, Geof and Bruce are directing some very careful shunting by Mark and Dan to get as much accessible as possible.
Gilbert knew where the gudgeon pin tool was and put it to use. Otherwise, it was a repeat of the Friday procedure.
Between times on the two days I dealt with the tender sump cover. Unfortunately, the citric acid paste had not worked very well. It was old paste from last November and had thickened. It may also have a shelf life that I am not aware of.
After a lot of effort, I was able to apply the green anti-corrosion primer. At the end of the day, I turned it over and applied the paste after I had diluted it a little. On Saturday, I cleaned and applied a second coat of paste. Hopefully, this will work better. If not, we should try fresh acid paste.
On Friday, Ian and Ashley had been steadily putting rivets into the tender frames. It might have totalled 26 rivets.
These required painting with green primer, and this was done by Roger 3 and Ingo. They later moved on to undercoating the previously primed ones.
Teresa was working on the boot scrapers.
I have not mentioned Dave: he was part of the team working on rod removal, but escaped from being in a photo. I left at lunch time, but expect the immediate future work will be:
Remove any remaining items from under the frames. Shunt tender (Dinmore’s) out of the way. Remove P&O from the jacks (tricky!) and put 2807 on them.
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Mainline Steam Action - Both Past & Present
On a slightly different note. In my day job at Worcester Shrub Hill, we are occasionally treated to an interesting working, and thanks to a heads up from Bob in the Cafe, we headed out to Platform 1 at lunchtime to see a certain 'Duke Of Gloucester' pass through heading for the Severn Valley Railway. I wouldn't mind having this on shed at Toddington!
71000 'Duke Of Gloucester' at Worcester Shrub Hill - 10th April 2026
71000 'Duke Of Gloucester' working 5Z31 heads through Worcester for the SVR - 10th April 2026
Time for a bit of history. I was recently directed to the following video which is most interesting. Look out for 7820.
Steam
Through Snow – Snow Hill to Shrewsbury (1960s) - Step back to the
winter of the 1960s and experience a powerful steam journey from
Birmingham Snow Hill to Shrewsbury. Battling snow, steep gradients, and
the elements, these locomotives kept Britain moving in the final years
of steam - Video The World of Railways / Facebook
For those of you who use Facebook, here are a number of GWSR related groups which are worth following:
DMLL - Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd
2874 - The 2874 Trust
35006 - 35006 Group
76077 - Standard Locomotive 76077
THL - The Honeybourne Line - a GWR mainline in the making
The GWSR recently launched a new website and the various department blogs can all be found here.
Anyway,
that's all I have for today. More updates and gala announcements will be chuffing
along in due course.
Thanks to Graham, CSPL, TSLL, and my fellow steam department members for their contributions.
Alex (the sooty one!).
* Please Note: All locomotives are subject to availability and changes may be made at short notice.
All published photographs and videos are my own unless otherwise stated/credited.
