shredder1
Established Member
Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway. Mixed Traffic Event. Friday 30th December 2016.
I was up early at the Studio Apartment in Cheltenham and made my way down to the railway station to catch an early bus into the town centre. The Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, GWR first train didnt arrive at Cheltenham Race Course until nearly 11.00pm and I wanted to try to find a way up to the railway`s operations centre at Toddington, if possibly to catch them steaming up.
As luck happens I found a number 66 Merchant bus service that was due to leave the bus station in ten minutes of my arrival, the one after that would have been 11.00, it is a very sparse bus service, so I was able to arrive at Toddington sometime before the first train down the line. I visited the station café at Toddington for an excellent breakfast , I can certainly recommend it, and I then took the first train down the line to Cheltenham Race Course behind a Manor and a class 37`s, a nice start to the day.
I returned as far as Gotherington and then took a train back up to Toddington and later to the top of the line as far as Laverton, although the Railway should soon be open up to Broadway, and while talking to a member of the PW gang, Honeybourne would be the next push after that. I returned to Toddington and then down to Winchcombe and back before taking the last train, which was quite early at 15.30, back down the line to Cheltenham Race Course behind a class 20. It had been an excellent visit and a great show put on by the GWR, a very active and progressive railway and who always provide a good selection of motive power and operations, although a longer timetable would have been nice, but still this was Christmas week and we were lucky to have a preserved railway operating anyway at this time of the year, so a big well done guys.
The last of the day`s light had just about left the skies as I walked across the Race Course and back to the bus stop, I didnt wait long and was soon back at Cheltenham Spa`s network railway station, a few beers on the way back to the studio apartment and I was soon asleep for the night, the last night of my Christmas break as I was travelling home the next day, New Years Eve.
https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...1073742610.100001125840218&type=3&pnref=story
I was up early at the Studio Apartment in Cheltenham and made my way down to the railway station to catch an early bus into the town centre. The Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway, GWR first train didnt arrive at Cheltenham Race Course until nearly 11.00pm and I wanted to try to find a way up to the railway`s operations centre at Toddington, if possibly to catch them steaming up.
As luck happens I found a number 66 Merchant bus service that was due to leave the bus station in ten minutes of my arrival, the one after that would have been 11.00, it is a very sparse bus service, so I was able to arrive at Toddington sometime before the first train down the line. I visited the station café at Toddington for an excellent breakfast , I can certainly recommend it, and I then took the first train down the line to Cheltenham Race Course behind a Manor and a class 37`s, a nice start to the day.
I returned as far as Gotherington and then took a train back up to Toddington and later to the top of the line as far as Laverton, although the Railway should soon be open up to Broadway, and while talking to a member of the PW gang, Honeybourne would be the next push after that. I returned to Toddington and then down to Winchcombe and back before taking the last train, which was quite early at 15.30, back down the line to Cheltenham Race Course behind a class 20. It had been an excellent visit and a great show put on by the GWR, a very active and progressive railway and who always provide a good selection of motive power and operations, although a longer timetable would have been nice, but still this was Christmas week and we were lucky to have a preserved railway operating anyway at this time of the year, so a big well done guys.
The last of the day`s light had just about left the skies as I walked across the Race Course and back to the bus stop, I didnt wait long and was soon back at Cheltenham Spa`s network railway station, a few beers on the way back to the studio apartment and I was soon asleep for the night, the last night of my Christmas break as I was travelling home the next day, New Years Eve.
https://www.facebook.com/nick.melli...1073742610.100001125840218&type=3&pnref=story
