New A1 Pacific 60163 Tornado, Britain’s newest main line steam locomotive, will visit Didcot Railway Centre from 16 August to 2 September.
The LNER locomotive, which starred in a recent edition of the BBC's ‘Top Gear’, will be hauling passenger trains at the Centre over the August Bank Holiday and we are intending to organise Driver Experience days during her stay.
The August Bank Holiday weekend should see Britain’s two most recently built ‘main line’ steam locomotives in use: ‘Fire Fly’ a Great Western Broad gauge engine, completed in 2005 will offer a taste of 1840s steam technology, whilst ‘Tornado’, completed in 2009 will demonstrate how the state of the art had developed by the 1940s.
Details about the driver experience days will be available soon, but anyone interested should register their interest by e-mailing: red@didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk
For more information about 60163 Tornado see the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust website.
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At a recent tourism industry event, hosted by Tourism South East, at Farmer Gow’s Farm attraction at Fernham near Faringdon, Oxfordshire, Didcot Railway Centre officially received their VisitBritain Visitor Attraction Quality Assurance Service Award (VAQAS).
When presenting the award, Mike Bedingfield, Chief Executive of Tourism South East said:-“We are delighted that Didcot Railway Centre applied for this accreditation and that VisitBritain has recognised the ongoing investment in and development of the Railway Centre. This is particularly topical in the current economic climate, where many of us plan to holiday at home this year. Tourism businesses that continue to promote themselves and add value to their offer, in the way that Didcot Railway Centre have, are most likely to survive the recession.”
Just one of four attractions in Oxfordshire to be recognised in this way, Didcot Railway Centre joined over 40 other tourism businesses to exchange ideas, contacts and information about some of the key challenges facing the tourism industry today. The event also enabled those attending to learn how their business can gain support from services offered by Tourism South East.
The VAQAS inspector who visited the railway centre on 3 May wrote in his report, “The centre’s extensive area and comprehensive collection is generally well managed, exhibiting some remarkably well preserved locomotives and rolling stock. All of the staff/volunteers were very pleased to interact with visitors.”
London North Eastern Railway A4 Class Pacific 60007 ‘Sir Nigel Gresley’ spent a few weeks at Didcot Railway Centre in May and June. 6007 was the 100th pacific locomotive built to the design of H. N Gresley, and was named in his honour. The locomotive arrived at Didcot at around midday on Monday 25 May and stayed until early Saturday 6 June, being due to leave the Centre at 08:30 when she was scheduled to haul the Steam Dreams ‘Cathedrals Express’ train to Chester.
Last year the Great Western Trust, which runs Didcot's small relics museum, bought a GWR double royal (40 in x 25 in) poster of Dartmouth at Cameo Auctions of Midgham. The lot was described as one poster pasted over another poster, both mounted on board, believed to have been stored in a loft for 70 years. The GWR one was on top.
The trust sent the posters to Armor Paper Conservation who separated them from the board and from each other. They have now returned to the museum at Didcot where they are stored in conservation sleeves (which accounts for the reflections in the photos).
The GWR poster dates from the 1910-1914 period — after 1910 when George V became King, and before 1914 when comparison of the Dart with a German river would not have been a great sales pitch!
The Irish poster pre-dates this by a few years and is most likely to have been displayed on a station in the period after 1906 when the Fishguard - Rosslare route opened and the GWR had a marketing campaign for destinations in the south of Ireland.
The trust intends to frame the GWR poster and exhibit it in the museum during 2010.
3650, now resplendent in GWR green with “shirt-button” logo, was officially launched into traffic over the weekend of 13th &14th June.
3650 has been restored over the last 20 years, and the launch provided the opportunity for those who had been involved to re-acquaint themselves with 3650 and the 3650 group.
For more details of the restoration and the launch see the 3650 website.
The Great Western Society is not responsible for the content of external web sites.
The Great Western Society owns three of the eight Super Saloons introduced by the Great Western Railway to carry passengers from Plymouth to London who had disembarked from the Trans Atlantic liners.
9113 - Prince of Wales, is at present undergoing a full restoration which started with major repairs to the timber framing. The latest sign of progress is the first of the large picture windows being fitted over the May Day bank holiday weekend.
If you would like further information on the Project or feel that you could support the restoration of the Ocean Saloons by making a donation or regular monthly contributions, or by joining the regular working parties, please contact the project leader: Mick Howse at the Great Western Society, Didcot Railway Centre, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 7NJ, England. Tel +44 (0) 1235 817200 or e-mail info@didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk
A painting of Clifton Down station by the artist, Stella Whatley GRA, was presented to the Great Western Society at 12.30 on Sunday 3rd May.
Stella is a member of the Guild of Railway Artists, being one of the first to be elected to full membership on foundation of the Guild in 1979.
More information about the Guild of Railway Artists can be found on their website.
The Great Western Society is not responsible for the content of external web sites.
The 100th anniversary of Radstock North Signalbox was celebrated on Saturday 2nd May.
The celebrations featured a 100th Birthday Cake, and musical accompaniment from the Goring and Streatley Concert band, which includes a member of the signal & telegraph department among their number. There was also a small exhibition showing how the signalbox was rescued and restored.
The occasion was also marked by the opening of King's park, a newly landscaped public area opposite Radstock Box.
Eric King was a long time
supporter of the Bristol Group's signalling project and we were pleased to welcome his widow Joyce King to declare the park open. Joyce also presented a GWR memorandum, given to her late husband in 1931, to the Great Western Trust. Eric, a Radstock resident, had won a scholarship to study at Bristol University and went to Radstock GWR station to enquire about season tickets. The memo shows the rates at the time - 1 month £1.13s.0d (£1.65) and 3 months £4.8s.6d (£4.43).
Radstock North Box, built at the Great Western Railway’s signal works at Reading, replaced an earlier MacKenzie & Holland box, at Radstock on the North Somerset Line from Frome to Bristol, in 1909.
In 1975 the signalbox, which was no longer required for railway operations, was purchased by the Bristol Group of the Great Western Society. With roofing slates and windows still in place it was transported to Didcot by low-loader and transferred to the railway centre by rail. It has subsequently been re-erected, on a new brick base, and now controls the steam trains on the centre’s convincingly reconstructed branch line.
The Great Western Society met representatives from Network Rail during January to press its case to acquire the land currently occupied at Didcot Railway Centre. We hoped this would bring about the long term security of the site. This will allow the gradual development to enhance access to the collection.
At the meeting Network Rail tabled a new proposal which would break the current area occupied into separate lots:
The Society reiterated its desire to acquire the freehold or a long (99 year) lease on the land with the exception of the area occupied by the main demonstration line, in order that it can develop Didcot Railway Centre for future generations to enjoy.
The consultation process with the various railway operating companies is still on going, but we have heard subsequently that possible proposals to increase the capacity in the Didcot Parkway area and between Didcot and Oxford may impact on some parts of the site area currently occupied by the Great Western Society although nothing specific has yet been put forward.
The negotiation process continues. Many people and organisations have come forward to offer their assistance and we are encouraged by the support which has been shown. A member of the public, who is not a member of the Great Western Society, has set up a petition on the Prime Minister’s website and we would like to thank everyone for their support.
Were ever chairs more elegant than these provided for railway passengers? The Great Western Railway’s legendary Ocean Saloon carriages, built in 1932, were the ultimate in luxury travel, and their Queen Anne wing armchairs reflected the furnishings in drawing rooms of great country houses that the clientele could be expected to frequent.
Now after forty years in preservation at Didcot Railway Centre the chairs are looking tired, so 54 are getting a makeover at Asnew Upholstery in Abingdon. The Didcot team have sourced moquette from John Holdsworth of Halifax and have raised funds for the work from sponsors of individual chairs.
Three Ocean Saloons are preserved at Didcot – 9112 Queen Mary, 9113 Prince of Wales and 9118 Princess Elizabeth. 9113 is going through a major overhaul at present.
The Ocean Saloons (also known as Super Saloons) were introduced by the GWR to capture a share of the transatlantic traffic. The thirties were a decade of great ocean liners and intense competition to capture the blue riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic. The GWR did not have an ocean liner port, but ships were able to anchor off Plymouth for a short while and unload the time-sensitive mails into small steamers that carried them into the harbour for the train journey to London.
Passengers in a hurry to get to London would also go ashore on the steamers and then be whisked from Plymouth to the capital in four hours in a train of Ocean Saloons. By then the liner would have upped anchor and continued to Cherbourg to land passengers for mainland Europe, before crossing the channel to dock in Southampton a day or two after the passengers who went ashore at Plymouth had arrived in the capital.
The South Oxfordshire ‘Investors in Education’ Awards Ceremony 2009 took place at The Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot on Wednesday 11th February.
The Winner in the ‘Work Experience’ category was the Great Western Society, Didcot Railway Centre, in recognition of its ongoing work-related learning support.
The ceremony was arranged by the Oxfordshire Education Business Partnership and Ed Vaizey MP presented Awards to the winners. David Bevan, the Society’s Education Officer, accepted the award on behalf of The Great Western Society.
Didcot Railway Centre offers a wealth of learning in science and heavy engineering. The nomination by St. Birinus School and the winning of the award will be a great encouragement to the members of the restoration groups who welcome the opportunity of passing on their skills to students.
The Power Bogie and Boiler for the Steam Railmotor project, which had been on display in the engine shed, have now gone to Llangollen to be united with the rest of the vehicle which is under restoration there.
The boiler was loaded into the Society’s Sleeper wagon, and the power bogie onto a “Salmon” hired from D.B. Shenker (the new name for EWS). After an inspection by the D.B. Loads Inspector, the vehicles made the short trip to Didcot’s West Yard, for transfer by crane to road transport for the journey to North Wales. The trip to Llangollen was without incident, unloading being done on Friday 16 January in the station goods yard.
The bogie and the coach body, which is under restoration, are not in a position at Llangollen where they can normally be viewed, but we are pleased to announce that there will be a further opportunity to inspect progress at a gala event in April. This will be during the Llangollen Railway's ‘Steel, Steam and Stars II’ gala, from 18 to 26 April 2009.
The Boiler and Power Bogie will be on display in the Locomotive Works at Llangollen and the body and underframe (which will by then have been reunited) will be on display at Pentrefelyn Carriage and Wagon Workshop. Members of the project team will be on hand at weekends, to answer questions on the project.
See: http://www.6880gala.co.uk/ for more information about the gala,
and http://www.railmotor93.org for more information about the Steam Railmotor project.
The Great Western Society is not responsible for the content of external web sites.
Roger Orchard has taken up the post of Operations Manager as of Monday 5th January 2009 and is responsible for the day to day operation of the Railway Centre. Roger was successful in the recent interviews held for the post and comes with experience of project management, resource management, health and safety and many heritage railway aspects.
Roger describes himself as “a 54 year old who luckily lives about 3 miles from Didcot”. Asked about his background Roger sums himself up as follows:
“Having spent most of my life somewhere near the main Bournemouth to Waterloo main line I do have a passion for things Southern (not a good start!). My interest in railways started with the usual Triang train set then swayed towards railway preservation which has resulted in 40 years involvement, the majority of which has been with the Swanage Railway. I still have a 16MM garden railway and play drums in a local band, http://www.fourtuned.com. My working life has mainly been in telecommunications with BT but I have recently had 4 years experience of working in Formula 1 as a Facilities and Health and Safety officer. So I promise I won't start painting things Southern and erecting Bulleid signs everywhere. I'm here to carry on the work of the Society and ensure that the Centre's operation and its standing in the preservation world is best in class.”
The Great Western Society is not responsible for the content of external web sites.