Welcome to 'The Goods Shed'

For the third time in 9 months, steam is back in the Cotswolds once again. 4270 powered her way up and down the line on 13 April, and then was joined by Dinmore Manor over the weekend. The GWSR social media team were live on the ground down at Cheltenham Racecourse to capture the first train of 2021, which you can relive here.

4270 heading north on 13 April (Ian Crowder)

Behind the scenes, the final touches have been made on the new welfare building; installing the fridge and dishwasher, moving in the new tables and chairs for the mess room, building the shelving units for the storage cupboards, moving the notice boards and pigeon holes over from the mess coach and deciding where everything is now going to live.

At long last, 17 April saw the “official” opening of ‘The Goods Shed’. No ribbon was cut, but volunteers are now able to use the new building and the facilities it offers, which means we can finally take you readers around too!

Final positions of some boards to be determined

As mentioned many times previously, the signing on point will be moving from the original office into the main building lobby. The lobby is also where a lot of the daily operational information, such as the daily roster, will be located. Dedicated notice boards have been being diligently installed by Nigel, much to the approval of one of the current roster clerks who was mightily pleased to be getting his own board.

Woe betide anyone who touches this board

In the background, you can see the new loco records board duly painted by Chris Smith, Alex and the C&W team (thanks team!). Alex has also taken on the mantle of blog-writer and now writes the C&W blog, so make sure you check that out to keep up to date on what our compatriots are up to (and what favours they’ve very kindly agreed to do for us!).

Now that the building is commissioned, the changing rooms are in use and are a welcome upgrade from trying to pull overalls on in a small, very confined space, especially if one of the legs decides it wants to play about and you need to hop about a bit to get them on. I may have accidentally caused a kerfuffle when innocently enquiring about whether or not there was anywhere to plug in a hair dryer in the female changing room and there was the realisation that for *ahem* “reasons of a hair length nature”, it simply hadn’t been considered, but I’m assured it will be resolved.

Having peeked in the storage cupboard, I wouldn’t be surprised if a rumour started flying round that our Chairman has shares in tea! Clearing out the mess coach uncovered just how much has been stockpiled, and some quick maths determined that there’s over 7,000 teabags waiting to be used. The GWSR steam department will be well fuelled for the next few months at least!

The new training room

Upstairs, the new meeting and training rooms sit waiting for the next round of restrictions to lift so they can be pressed into operation. The training room has a lovely view of the running line and siding 1, although not quite as lovely as the view from the first floor mezzanine. The new medical facility is also upstairs - the sorts of medicals that deem us allowed to be operational staff, rather than any form of surgery or general practitioning, I should point out.

The final, and some would say most important, room is of course the new mess room. 

   

Wall decorations are still due to be added, but I would wager more than 50 cups of tea have already been made at the time of writing, so the room is officially in use. Having a dishwasher is a new luxury, and the current record for the number of mugs able to be washed at one time is 60 - aka every mug in the cupboard! (This may or may not be being brought up only because the writer is the current record holder…) 

The results of mug tetris

The mess room can be used by any volunteer on the railway, donations to the tea fund welcomed, and this has been accommodated for, by providing chairs earmarked for clean clothes only. Those of us in multiple departments appreciate this mightily, and as I have guards shifts aplenty in May, I will be making use!

The structure of the roof has unfortunately put paid to the giant steam department OO gauge model layout pipe-dreams, however focus has instead turned to the first floor mezzanine and how that could be somehow converted into some kind of “leisure area”, complete with sun loungers, a hot tub and the type of wooden drinks service station that has been frequented by many since restrictions lifted two weeks ago (that is not allowed here due to this being an on work-site building). Galas would be the envy of all in the country I think!

Speaking of the mezzanine, the views provided are very much enjoyed by volunteers, the recent bright sunshine meaning “why are we sitting in here, let’s go outside” has been heard a few times. Some of us may have indulged the April sun a little too much, and by that I mean me when, upon looking in the mirror in the evening on Sunday, I noticed my face was more than slightly pink.

Completely worth the pink face though

I’m sure the location of the signal box directly opposite the mezzanine will certainly not mean spectators keeping a very close eye on token exchanges and providing “helpful” commentary should something go awry. Some signalmen have already been heard looking into the possibility of a winch/pulley system to have drinks sent over between trains.

Our former blog editor preparing to accept the token from Toddington signal box

 Dinmore Manor is now back in the shed, whilst Foremarke Hall comes out and gets some time steaming alongside 4270 on 2-train days. John Cruxon has recently published his book about 7903 and her history, which is available to purchase now through the GWSR online shop. John has been with 7903 for many years, having been involved in the initial rescue from Barry, all the way to present day, so please do check the book out.

Locomotives and Recollections by John Cruxon

Tickets for the next few months are on sale. It’s our 40th anniversary this year, and we’re hoping to be able to celebrate over the summer, so come and see us!

That’s all from me,
Bryony