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On the GWR near Cheltenham Race Course (taken earlier with a different train!)
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A Firing and Driving Experience - Introduction
At 8 a.m. I arrived at Toddington Station, northern terminus of the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway (GWR) and headquarters of the locomotive department. My “ticket” stated that the course would begin at 9:30 a.m. but I would be welcome to arrive earlier and help out. I met driver Adrian Dorainne and fireman Ian Crowder (a full list of the key GWR volunteers is at the bottom of each of the three pages of this travelogue) and learned that the locomotive of the day was to be ex-Great Western No. 3440 City of Truro. This caused much excitement even though I had been looking forward to the first choice locomotive, ex-British Railways Standard Class 9F No. 92203 Black Prince. Some minor trouble had been detected in the latter’s boiler so the GWR called the National Railway Museum, owners of the historic City of Truro, and received their permission to substitute for the day. This then, would be a rare opportunity to drive one of the most famous of British steam locomotives. |
| A Personal Historical Perspective
As I began to apply WD-40 and rub off accumulated black oil residue from around the wheel bearing caps, I reflected on my own personal history with this fine locomotive. I had first seen it in the late 1950s when I was a young teenager avidly collecting train numbers - in other words a “train-spotter”. I had just spent the day at Tamworth on the LMS main line, seeing great steam locomotives (and a few diesels) storm north and south between London and Crewe and had walked into Birmingham’s Moor Street Station to take the local train home to Earlswood (Lakes Halt). There, parked at the end of the platform was City of Truro. It was a movable static display item, meaning it was moved around the country but not under its own power. I was allowed (encouraged) to visit the cab and walk around the frame - opportunities that are rarely possible today due to HSE rulings. My next brief association would have been in the early 1970s when I bought and framed a fine print of the locomotive (destiny in the making) which hung in various rooms in Singapore and Houston and now temporarily resides in a storage warehouse. |
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Then in 1995 April and I went to York for a weekend and visited the National Railway Museum (NRM). City of Truro was a prized exhibit, standing on the main roundhouse turntable and I took two photos, shown here.
Ten years later, City of Truro arrived at Toddington for an extended loan and we visited the shed and learned that the NRM had long ago made the decision to steam the locomotive again and use it as a “goodwill ambassador”. Since the City class of locomotive would have run the original rails now operated by the GWR, it was an appropriate choice. Then, in November, I received a surprise birthday present from April: a day long “firing and driving experience” on the GWR. We registered for the first available course in 2006 and April 7 became the day I would not be available for any other engagement! A week before, I visited Toddington and talked to driver Adrian who assured me that Black Prince would be the locomotive. But that all changed and now I was happily getting grease under my fingernails and looking forward to riding in the cab. |
| The Course Begins
When the other participants had arrived we all got on board and rode the locomotive and tender out of the shed road and onto the main line and coupled up to six standard coaches, the normal rake for the line. After meeting administrator and station master Malcolm Ranieri, we then we walked across to the staff meeting room for a detailed introduction from commercial director Tony Stockwell. One piece of advice he gave us was that railway-men do not do anything in a hurry. Steam engines don’t respond well and there is a significant safety factor in not rushing anything. As he pointed out, if steam engines were invented today, Health and Safety would ban them from day one! (there is no doubt that this aspect is increasingly becoming a factor in what we like to call nostalgia - oh for the days when we took “risks” as a matter of daily life!) |
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Mugs of hot tea and coffee were shared and then we walked back to the waiting train. Ian and Adrian had changed from “shed overalls” to “foot-plate uniform” and we were then introduced to Peter Parlett, operations director and also a fully qualified signalman. Peter explained that the entire railway was closed for the day and we would have the staff of the entire line with us at all times. This staff looks like a large mechanical key and is the “pass” to the railway. We had possession of it which meant that no-one else did. Safety was therefore assured. As part of the course we visited two signal boxes and learned a lot about the inter-locking nature of traditional railway signaling. Unlike my experiences in North America, I noted that all communications were made by whistle and flag with no recourse to short wave radios. Bravo! |
| With six participants divided into three teams, I found myself paired with another local resident, John, and that he would drive during the morning session while I fired and that we would reverse roles after lunch. The railway can be conveniently divided into thirds, meaning that the crews could change over, allowing each team to drive and fire four times during the two complete runs up and down the line. |
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The Route
The route is currently 10 miles long, running from Toddington to Cheltenham Race Course Station. There are two stops along the way at Winchcombe and Gotherington and there is a 693 yard tunnel between these two stations. There are some inclines along the way with the highest point of the line just to the south of the tunnel followed by a long descent into Cheltenham (maximum 1 in 150). The tunnel is curved such that when in the middle neither end can be seen. The original line was built as a main line two track railway by the Great Western (God’s Wonderful) Railway to connect Birmingham to South Wales and the West Country. The existing Midland Railway line from Birmingham to Bristol involved the steep Lickey Incline just north of Bromsgrove and the plan was to provide an easier route with fewer steep inclines as well as fast running gentle curves. Completed, relatively late in the history of British Railways, in 1906, the line served several purposes, including main line expresses (the Cornishman), local passenger services, a lot of through freight avoiding the Lickey incline as well as local freight taking fruit and vegetables to market. The Beeching era in the 1960s saw no need for this line in a cost cutting era that lacked forward-looking investment and it was finally abandoned to freight services in 1976 following a derailment. |
| Just about everything was torn up, including all the track and many of the buildings, or simply left to rot. So when the GWR was formed in 1981 the task of relaying track, building facilities and providing services for the public must have been daunting. That so much has been achieved in the past 25 years (with plans for expansion in the future) is a testament to the hard work and persistence of an entirely voluntary work force. Enemies of preserved steam railways come from a variety of sources, not the least a few local NIMBYs, anti-pollution “Greens” and so on, but the greatest challenge has always been the silly rulings coming out of Europe that forever seem to want to destroy the historical aspect in favor of those twin towers of modern bureaucracy, Mr. Health and Ms. Safety, often taken out of context and to unbending extremes that serve no beneficial purpose. |  |
| The two “relief” crews were introduced to our guard, Mei Jones, for the day. In North American terms the guard is the conductor but in many ways his job is tied in with the safety of the train. Although the locomotive supplies vacuum for the brakes, the guard also has a manual override should the vacuum system fail. He literally guards the train and its passengers. He also waves the green flag to indicate that the train is ready to leave.
Next, the Morning Run (when I take on the role of fireman) |
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The GWR Team
The Fire and Drive Experience would not be possible without a considerable volunteer effort and I would like to name the entire team who made this day so very special. Without their dedication it would not be financially feasible to provide this wonderful day out.
Resources General Internet Links
Resources for Fire and Drive Preparation
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