GWR Diesel Gala success

Posted on by Peter_S

This year’s summer diesel gala at the GWR has been an unqualified success delighting the line’s Commercial Manager with numbers even slightly higher than last year’s successful event, despite 2 out of the 3 days being blighted by heavy and unseasonal rainfall after weeks of dry weather. Highlight of the 3 day event held between the 24th and 26th July, was the appearance of class 35 ‘Hymek’ no.D7076 in BR blue from the East Lancashire Railway and the locomotive duly delighted many visitors with a powerful and noisy performance through the Cotswold scenery together with the railway’s home fleet including 37215. click to continue reading

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D6948 progress update – March 2015

Posted on by Peter_S

With much intense work having gone into Project D6948 over the winter period, the onset of Spring is an ideal time to take stock of what we have done and bring everyone up to date with the state of play. What everyone wants to know of course is….when will it be finished and a pristine green and steaming D6948 emerge into the daylight and back on to its first train?

The owners have been careful not to set a specific deadline for the completion of the project, which commenced in October 2010 when 37248 was withdrawn from traffic at the GWR, given the unknowns involved. This included fitting a boiler to a locomotive that had not previously carried one and overhauling a 50 year old locomotive that has clearly had a hard life and has only recently come off the main line to name but two. ‘It will be ready when it’s ready’ has been the mantra, and no compromise will be made when it comes to ‘doing it right’. However, we are now entering what should be the final straight, and the intention is for completion to be ‘some time in the second half of 2015’, 5 years after the refurbishment project started. Continue reading →

Christmas mixed traction gala success

Posted on by Peter_S

Excellent weather albeit being very cold on the 29th and 30th December marked the GWR’s Christmas Cracker mixed traction gala at which 37215 played a starring role on the 29th. 215 double-headed the 1310 Toddington-Cheltenham Racecourse with GWR 28xx class 2-8-0 no.2807 providing heat and returned solo on the 1400 Cheltenham Racecourse-Laverton (with 2807 on the rear of the train), which provided a much heavier load than normal (equivalent to 10 coaches) and hence much noise! 215 put in its usual excellent performance with many happy class 37 followers on board enjoying the ‘thrash’ and the steam heat. click to continue reading

Cardiff Canton Diesel Depot – new book – buy it and support the Group!

Posted on by Peter_S

The first edition of this popular book by Steve Morris was published 8 years ago and sold out quickly. Since then there have been many requests for copies. To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the opening of Canton depot in 2014, the book has been re-printed with a small print run including an update to reflect changes since the first edition, bringing the history of the depot right up to date. The opportunity has also been taken to update some of the captions in the original, a general tidy-up and correct some minor errors present in the first edition. click to continue reading

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