Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) - heritage line

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

I think that passive provision of the line is the best bet at present.  It rather depends on what Sustrans want for it.

[CyclingSid]

It possibly needs more local authorities to do what the New Forest National Park did. They made a ruling that former railway lines and associated areas (not sure of the wording for the second half) could only be used for active and sustainable transport. Thus preserving the Chichester - Midhurst line and the Petersfield - Pulborough line and the former Hampshire lines within their area from further development.

[ChrisB]

I think that passive provision of the line is the best bet at present.  It rather depends on what Sustrans want for it.

My understanding is that they just want shot of it, so for next to nothing. BUT the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) want the highways authority to pick it up so that the bridges get maintained, leasing to GWSR antvof course the total lack of any bridge maintenance means a big bill for the taxpayers through the precept to carry this work out.

[Witham Bobby]

Some pictures of the current condition of some of the bridges etc can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zig3js84ef7role/AACz7bcl-ImomVlwTD1cxXoma?dl=0

It's a big mess

[rogerw]

Visited the line today for a day out. Round trip from Toddington with a break at Broadway. Two 7 coach trains operating busy but plenty of space. Also visited the narrow gauge line which hasn't been operating on my previous visits. Nice day out, but more expensive than previous years.

[Electric train]

Visited the line today for a day out. Round trip from Toddington with a break at Broadway. Two 7 coach trains operating busy but plenty of space. Also visited the narrow gauge line which hasn't been operating on my previous visits. Nice day out, but more expensive than previous years.

I did a trip Tuesday last week, it was a great day as always. The narrow gauge was not operating the day I went though.  The railway was busy but plenty of space on board the trains.

I am a share holder and get free tickets, but I decided to pay the normal fare to give the railway the revenue

[Witham Bobby]

Stanway Viaduct, a little to the north of Toddington Station, has suffered from failure of the waterproofing layer of its deck, leading to water penetration and subsequent damage to masonry

An appeal to raise funds to repair the damage and secure the structure into the future has been launched

https://www.gwrt.org.uk/donate/stanway-viaduct-appeal

[Chris from Nailsea]

Not related to the appeal, but I'm struggling to find the original topic. 

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page), see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2jjveyv8k2o

[grahame]

Not related to the appeal, but I'm struggling to find the original topic. 

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page), see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2jjveyv8k2o

I don't think there WAS an original topic, Chris ... the Coffee Shop is surprisingly patchy when we get onto heritage / attractions, especially where they are not [yet] available to our members and guest readers.

A newly-built steam locomotive will carry its first passengers this weekend.
Hundreds of steam enthusiasts will experience No. 6880 Betton Grange at the Cotswold Festival of Steam.
Construction of the engine using parts from other scrapped locomotives was completed at Tyseley works in Birmingham last month.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Not related to the appeal, but I'm struggling to find the original topic. 

I don't think there WAS an original topic, Chris ...

I'm sorry to have to correct you on that, grahame, but there was - I've now found it and merged everything relating to the excellent Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway into this one topic, for ease of future reference.