Speed to the West Day 1

At the 12th hour, we finally had a full complement of locos for the Speed to the West gala.  I have aged at least 5 years in the week leading up to the gala, but at last we can all smile again.  For the first day, Andy was going to be the Running Shed Foreman (RSF), making sure that all the locos got off of shed on time, I would be the gala coordinator.  It sounds grand, but basically means that when anything anywhere goes wrong, I had to get it fixed. 

Andy, wearing the RSF bowler hat and happy that we're off at last

Wells was in need of a bit of a clean after a protracted journey.  Before the cleaners got to work on her, the Monty Python graffiti team had paid us a visit:

Spam, spam, spam, spam....

Phil had heroically pulled an all nighter, and not only had Wells in steam, but had kept the warming fires in on all 7 locos.  He went off for some much deserved sleep, whilst the firemen stood around, drank tea and complained that if they'd known that there would be so little for them to do that they'd have had an extra hour in bed  There's no pleasing some people.

Tea consumption in progress.

With so little for them to do, the firemen resorted to taking photos and even a bit of loco cleaning too.

John poses with an ACE headboard, Tina captures the moment for posterity

Needless to say I got in on the act too.

Remember that Wells had yet to have a steam test, at 06:10, she got one.

I'm not entirely sure who was responsible for this, but Wells was briefly adorned with as many headboards as could be fitted, which turned out to be seven. 

That should confuse the passengers

Jeff noticed a rather interesting moth which had taken up residence on a length of hose pipe in the yard.  If you know what kind it is, please let me know.

Fabulous beast, not welcome in my wardrobe though.

Even before the locos were off shed, I had to switch hats and get on with being gala coordinator.  A perennial problem is staffing the car park, which during major events is the fields to the East of Toddington station.  We have come to an arrangement with the local Air Cadets who have taken on the role.  They did a brilliant job, it certainly made my life easier.

Air Cadets manning the car park.

One issue was that the second field which was supposed to have been cleared of sheep hadn't been.  My preferred solution was to get them onto the seven mobile BBQs that we had running up and down the line along with a generous helping of mint sauce, but the farmer who owned them somehow got wind of my plan and swiftly removed them just in the nick of time, as the first field was almost full.

As mentioned earlier, one of my tasks was to deal with the trade stands/marquee at Toddington.  We had an excellent turn out of groups:

Dinmore Manor

2807

Tony's Trains

Even one of our diesel owning groups set up a stand at our steam gala.

Cotswold Diesel Locomotive Group

Port Talbot Railway & Docks Company loco, 813 is a previous visitor to the GWSR and it was nice to see them with us.  Her heavy overhaul is nearing an end and they are optimistic that she will be back in steam later this year.

813 stand

Judith manned the Kingmoor Black 5 (44901) group's stand for all three days of the gala.

Some interesting items for sale here

The Toddington station shop took some space to try to deplete their stock of second hand books.

Plenty of reading matter for the discerning bibliophile here.

The GWSR had its own gazebo placed in front of the admin office for amongst other things selling tickets for the brake van rides.

Brake van rides available here.

Cheltenham Models were a very late booking, but we were glad to see them anyway.

Cheltenham Models

New build projects were well represented with the LMS Patriot Project and the Sandringham B17 groups having stands

The Patriot Project stand

The Spirit of Sandringham B17 group

I have recently been given a BBQ (not one of the mobile variety) and am now on the hunt for some garden furniture.  This lot definitely caught my eye.

GWR benches

May apologies to RailTrail Tours, whose stand I seemed to have managed to miss photographing.

If you are part of a project that would like to take a stand either in the marquee or outside in the car park for next year's gala, then please contact me via this blog.

One of the many plans for the gala had been to shunt 2874 out into the car park in the spot that 35006 had occupied for the previous two years.  The Dinmore Manor Group who have recently set up a charitable trust for 2874's restoration were hoping that it would drum up a bit of interest in the restoration plans for the loco and perhaps even attract more volunteers or sponsors.  With Wells not arriving until late the night before, the only opportunity was on the Saturday morning.  She needed a bit of lubrication first, which involved me getting a tin can full of motion oil, a paintbrush and scrabbling around underneath the thing oiling up the axles.  The two axles at the front were relatively accessible, the two at the back involved crawling underneath the ash pan.  There isn't much room under there!

As befits the occasion, Len and I bought along our plates and attached them to the loco.

2874 with Len's smoke box number attached...

... and my cabside

She proved to be something of a talking point, I had to wait for a while before I could get a relatively clear photo of her in the afternoon sun.

2874, dreaming of the day when she will appear at one of our galas.

For a while, sister loco 2807 was nearby and they made a interesting comparison.  No photos sadly.

With all the locos off shed, and a few operational issues dealt with, Andy was so pleased everything was going to plan that he treated anybody who was still around to an ice cream. 

Thanks Andy.

I saw precious little of the action on the line, but I did notice the double headed spam cans coming up from Winchcombe.

Wadebridge leading Wells into Toddington

As for the last couple of years, the freight train was running and offering brake van rides.

4270 sets off with the freight train

We had five traction engines in the car park, which as we'd kept most of the cars over in the field had plenty of space to run around.

Fabulous machines.

To my shame, I  have still never managed to take a ride on the narrow gauge railway.  It will happen one day, but I didn't manage to find the time during this gala.  As in previous years, the entry to the narrow gauge line was included in the cost of a gala ticket.

Narrow gauge loco at work.

Another part of my remit had been to organise the cleaners, making sure that enough people were there to empty out the smoke boxes of ash in the mornings, clean the locos, act as brake van attendants, chaperone the footplate passengers and assist with loco disposal at the end of the day.

AAndy and Mike empty the ash pit

 A very big thank you indeed to all of the cleaners (including one of the GWSR's directors) who gave up their time for these important tasks. 

And finally, Steve from the 35006 group bumped into David Brown, a fireman at Yeovil Town MPD who fired 35006 on the Eastly Mails from Yeovil Junction during July 1964, just a week before she was withdrawn.  All photos from here on courtesy of Steve Parker.

David Brown with 35006

His diary from July 1964 showing 35006 on the 30th & 31st of July

Steve also sent me this excellent study of all three Bulleids at Winchcombe as 5542 arrives from Toddington.

Busy day at Winchcombe