Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) - heritage line

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Ructions at Broadway, with Bill Britton resigning as Chairman of the Broadway Area Group and Head of Department, Broadway.

Looks like the high standards set so far by the Broadway team are about to be adandoned, supplanted by a cheap and cheerless design for the new station buildings. Very sad.

[John R]

Yes, very sad. My very modest monthly donation to support the rebuild has abruptly stopped, and I do wonder whether the same will be true for the many volunteers who have given their time over the last few years to rebuild what has been, to date, an excellent station.

[SandTEngineer]

I was a bit puzzeled by this sudden comment so investigated a bit and found this (health warning: its rather long) http://broadwaygwsr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-last-post-1038.html

[Electric train]

I have met Bill a few times in the past 3 years and a number of the BAG team, they are like many volunteer groups; passionate, enthusiastic, committed, dedicated etc to what they are doing.  It is sad that Bill has resigned however I respect the fact he has made what must have been a very personal and difficult decision. 

I am sure the BAG will continue and to open Broadway Station in time for the extension of the GWSR

[Red Squirrel]

I was a bit puzzeled by this sudden comment so investigated a bit and found this (health warning: its rather long) http://broadwaygwsr.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-last-post-1038.html

Note that the blog referred to in the link above will be closed and archived at 22:00 on 17/5/15.

Such a shame.

[Red Squirrel]

Well they've had their AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting); it looks like the cheap and cheerless solution is going to win the day at Broadway.

There's very little news coming out of the BAG since the blog closed, though there's a fairly heated debate going on in another forum.

I think the GWSR board have got this very wrong - they are going to spend a fair amount of money putting up inauthentic buildings at Broadway, whereas all they need when the line reopens is a couple of Portcabins and a sign saying 'come back next year to see what progress we've made!' - because people will do just that, if there's something interesting happening. On top of that they seem to have no conception of the own-goal they've scored by losing the 'Steaming to Broadway' blog, and not replacing it.

I've been a regular visitor and donor at Broadway. Not any more.

[Red Squirrel]

From 'Broadway Station Rebuild' blog, 16/7/2015 (http://broadwaystationgroup.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/station-roof-news.html):

A meeting was convened today at Toddington between the Plc chairman, the construction manager, members of the heritage committee, members of the loco dept, a construction consultant (giving his time as a volunteer) and a BAG member. The meeting was a very productive one with an informed discussion which led to the decision that, without impacting on the construction programme, the roof canopy steelwork will be referred back to the structural engineer for a re-design so that roof trusses and herring bone purlins can be manufactured by the loco dept members based as closely as possible on the old original designs and principals at very little, if any, additional cost.
Construction of the lower steel frame from ground to top of brickwork will continue with some temporary steel ties in place of the trusses so that brickwork/blockwork construction can proceed with all due speed. The fabricated trusses can then be fitted once the brickwork is finished. It has previously been agreed that the originally proposed slate roof shown on the first issue rebuild drawing can be replaced with corrugated iron (steel) in conjunction with canopy glazing as at Toddington.

Sounds like a sensible compromise may have been reached - thank goodness.

Time to dust off the old wallet: money where mouth is, and all that!

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Model railway to be removed from attic for train display

An intricate model train set that took an enthusiast more than 60 years to put together in his attic is to be exhibited by rail enthusiasts.

The display featuring thousands of pieces was created by Laurence Teague, of Redditch, Worcestershire, who died last year aged 74.

It is yet to be decided when the removal process can start.

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway plans to exhibit part of the display in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.


Railways were a "lifelong passion" for Laurence Teague

A spokesperson for the heritage railway added because of the size of the display, which runs 32ft by 11ft, (9.7m by 3.3m) it would not be able to display the entire works due to the likelihood of damage occurring in the removal process.

The model collection is currently in the loft of Mr Teague's house. His widow Gail said he had shown an interest in railways since the 1940s.


The railway display shows a number of different buildings and scenes from life. Laurence Teague even recreated his own shop, Teague's Television

"Any form of locomotion interested Laurence. He started the collection before he even knew me. It was a passion he had all his life."

She added: "He wasn't allowed to put up the railway display in the loft until I knew he was up there doing the rooms in the house first. It took him a year to do up every room in the house; and he spent half a year doing up his railway display."


Laurence Teague's model railway took more than 60 years to collect and contains thousands of pieces

Mr Teague, founder of Teague's Television in Redditch, donated the display in his will to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

Mrs Teague said her late husband would have wanted people to enjoy the display, but added she would be upset when the railway collection was taken from the loft. "His humour is up there. His personality is up there. It's so much of him," she said.


Gail Teague said she would be upset to see the display removed from the loft

[patch38]

I'm trying to work out if that's 'O' gauge or 'OO^▸ ((Double O) - model railway, 4mm to 1 foot scale)' - any ideas?

[eightf48544]

Looks 00 plastic coal in the LMS^▸ (London Midland Scottish - 1923 to 1948) tender.

[SandTEngineer]

I'm trying to work out if that's 'O' gauge or 'OO^▸ ((Double O) - model railway, 4mm to 1 foot scale)' - any ideas?

The track looks like Hornby 00

[johnneyw]

Had a look at Cheltenham Race Course Station today. The new platform is now in the hands of the regular CRC team after the Broadway gang signed off on the platform wall building. Had a quick chat with one of the two people working there today halfway up one of the lamp posts (him, not me). The next big step there is a footbridge which is preferred to the barrow crossing for many reasons but this will be when money allows. BTW^▸ (by the way), Broadway will not be the next new station on the GWSR. That honour goes to Hailes Abbey Halt,being rebuilt as a single platform by the Building Services team this year. I've added a pic of CRC taken from the road bridge. Sorry for the lack of quality, the Fire 7 is at it's price for a reason!

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Pete Waterman launches ^1.25m appeal to fund 'last mile' of Gloucestershire railway

A ^1.25m appeal to complete the "last mile" of a heritage line is being launched by producer Pete Waterman.

Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) currently runs between Cheltenham and Laverton but wants to extend to Broadway in Worcestershire.

A public share scheme raised more than ^500,000 in 2014 but to complete the extension it now needs to raise ^1.25m.

Mr Waterman, GWSR president, said: "There's nothing wrong with the railway now but the jewel was always Broadway."

Along with funding the last mile of track, it is hoped the public share issue will also pay for a station at Broadway which is due to open in 2018.

Ian Crowder, from GWSR, said it would put Broadway "back on the railway map for the first time in half a century".


The Cotswold station of Broadway is due to open in 2018 - 58 years after it closed

"We've been laying track at the rate of about a third of a mile a year since 1984 and by the time we reach Broadway we'll be the fourth longest heritage railway in Britain," he said.

Mr Waterman said he was optimistic the target could be reached, following the success of a similar ^1m emergency fundraising appeal in 2010. "I think the response that we got for the landslides six years ago was colossal and I think that's what spurred us all to believe we could get this far," he said. "And if everybody put a third of what I've put in this figure would be reached in seconds."

[John R]

And if you want more information on how things are going then the excellent station rebuild blog has lots more pictures, including the lifting this week of the footbridge into position. (Not quite as per the artist's impression, but hey, when you get offered one for free, beggars can't be choosers).

http://broadwaystationgroup.blogspot.co.uk/

[Red Squirrel]

Not quite as per the artist's impression...

Just as well - it looks too low to fit a train under.

When finished the new (well, ex-HNL) footbridge will have its roof, steps, daggerboards and so on - it'll look pretty darned good.