As you may recall, our ‘Green Machine’ D6948 has been out of traffic since the Xmas period after it was found to have moisture in the oil samples we sent away at the end of 2025. This was caused by a failed liner seal.
Well, the cylinder has been refitted with new seals and on the Wednesday just passed (17 June 2026), Paul ‘Gus’ Good, Keith Russell and a number of others prepared the loco for a start and fettling of the cylinder head. As you can see from Keith’s video above, the loco fired up first time and ‘Gus’ can be seen checking the priming and fuel run on B1 cylinder to check it was all in tune with the rest of the engine.
After this successful start up and static run the loco will have its B Exam completed before we look at testing the loco ‘under load’. If all successful, the loco will be back in traffic in July.
Members Day
Friday 21 August 2026 sees us run another ‘Members Day’ to celebrate The Growler Group’s 40th Anniversary at the GWSR. The day will see both locos operate in tandem and T’n’T formation over three round trips of the line. On the train will be a bar, the GG Sales Stand and a raffle. Members and Non-Members are welcome. This is not a GWSR event so any GWSR travel warrants or tickets ARE NOT valid.
Tickets are available on the webstore priced at £25 for GG Members (membership number is required) or £30 for non-members. Child (15 or under) tickets are £20 with Under 5s traveling for free. If you want to take advantage of the members saving then why not take out a membership of the group, save some cash and help us to continue looking after these fine locos.
