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The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway (GWR) is a volunteer-run heritage railway that has reopened the closed railway line between Toddington and Cheltenham Racecourse railway stations in Gloucestershire. It has plans to extend to Broadway, Worcestershire. The line was originally part of the Great Western Railway's Cheltenham - Stratford-upon-Avon - Birmingham line, built in 1900-1906, and runs through the Cotswold towns of Winchcombe and Bishop's Cleeve. The line was closed after a derailment in 1976. The preservation group rehabilitated the line, starting steam train operations in 1984. This culminated with the reopening of the line to Cheltenham Racecourse in 2003, by HRH The Princess Royal. The railway operates a wide variety of both steam and heritage diesel locomotives as well as heritage multiple units. These have included the world-famous locomotives 4472 "Flying Scotsman", and 3440 "City of Truro", which was reputedly the first engine to reach 100 mph, in 1904.

Contents 1 Stations 2 Locomotives 3 Signalling 4 Future plans 5 North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway 6 External links

[edit] Stations

• Toddington
• Winchcombe
• Gotherington
• Cheltenham Racecourse

[edit] Locomotives

Locomotives marked with an asterisk (*) are not permanent residents on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway.

• Steam locomotives
  • BR 2-6-0 Class 4MT no. 76077
  • BR 2-10-0 Class 9F no. 92203 "Black Prince"
  • GWR 0-6-0 2251 Class no. 3205* (2004-2006)
  • GWR 2-8-0 2800 Class no. 2807
  • GWR 2-8-0 2884 Class no. 3822* (2003-2004)
  • GWR 4-4-0 3700 "City" Class no. 3440 "City of Truro"* (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)
  • GWR 2-8-0T 4200 Class no. 4270
  • GWR 4-6-0 4900 "Hall" Class no. 4936 "Kinlet Hall"* (2004-)
  • GWR 2-6-2T 5101 "Large Prairie" Class no. 5199* (2003)
  • GWR 2-8-0T 5205 Class no. 5224* (2003-2004)
  • GWR 0-6-0PT 5700 Class no. 9642* (2005-)
  • GWR 0-6-0PT 6400 Class nos. 6412* (2004) and 6430* (2004)
  • GWR 4-6-0 6959 "Modified Hall" Class nos. 6960 "Raveningham Hall", 6984 "Owsden Hall", and 7903 "Foremarke Hall"
  • Industrial 0-6-0ST no. 2409 "King George"
  • LMS 2-8-0 Class 8F no. 8274
  • SR 4-6-2 "Merchant Navy" Class no. 35006 "Peninsular & Oriental"

• Diesel locomotives
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 03 nos. D2069 and D2184
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 14 no. D9553
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 20 no. D8137
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 24 no. 24081
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 26 no. 26043
  • BR Co-Co Class 37 nos. 37215 and 37324 "Clydebridge" (on loan to Swanage Railway)
  • BR 1Co-Co1 Class 45 no. 45149
  • BR Co-Co Class 47 nos. 47105 and 47376 "Freightliner 1995"
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 73 no. 73129 "City of Winchester"
  • LMS 0-6-0 English Electric shunter no. 7069

• Diesel multiple units
  • BR Class 101 observation car 6300 (ex-54356)
  • BR Class 108 unit 51950+52062

[edit] Signalling

The signalling on the line is a mixture of Electric Key Token and Staff working, depending on operational requirements. Current sections are:

• Toddington - Winchcombe (EKT)
• Winchcombe - Cheltenham Racecourse (short section staff)
• Toddington - Cheltenham Racecourse (with Winchcombe switched out - long section staff)

The above arrangements will change when Cheltenham Racecourse 'box is commissioned.

There are four signal boxes on the line:

• Toddingon - operational
• Winchcombe - operational
• Gotherington - non-operational (building only)
• Cheltenham Racecourse - currently being commissioned (early 2006)

[edit] Future plans

The railway currently has two major projects ongoing.

• Implementation of signalling on the Winchcombe-Cheltenham section of the line, to allow operation of multiple trains. This includes construction of signal boxes at Cheltenham Racecourse and Gotherington.
• Extension of track northwards from Toddington towards Broadway, with the construction of a new station at Broadway.

In the long-term future, plans could include a southern extension to link up to the national rail network at Cheltenham Spa mainline station, and extensions further north towards Honeybourne and possibly eventually Stratford-upon-Avon. However, extensions to the ends of the closed sections of line at Stratford and Cheltenham are impossible at present. The trackbed to Stratford is blocked by a road, and the trackbed through Cheltenham, while mostly complete, is in need of expensive rehabilitation and reconstruction, with the primary impediment being a non-rail-usable bowstring bridge near a Waitrose built on the St. James station site.

[edit] North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway

Toddington station is also home to the narrow gauge North Gloucestershire Railway.

[edit] External links

• Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway
• North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway
• Cotswold Steam Preservation Ltd. - Owners of No. 2807

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