03/06/2026
New Video!
Link in the comments below 👇
A pleasant trip up to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway for a bit of steam and diesel action. Having passed on doing the Cotswold Festival of Steam, due to the extreme heat - and fair bloody play to all involved in keeping that show on the road, when they had everything thrown at them - I took the opportunity to film one of the gala guests that had stuck around on a normal running day, once things had cooled down. The plan was to film the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway's BR Standard 2MT No.78022 - a loco I've not seen before - on its last day in service at the GWSR before it headed home. Unbeknownst to me, though, problems saw it unfortunately pulled from service after the previous day's work, so I was instead greeted by the sight of GWR 2800 Class No.2807 - still warm from working with 78022 the day before - coming towards me for the first shot of the day at Didbrook. No matter, I've seen my share of Standard 2s in action, so I carried on, regardless.
After this, I headed up to Toddington for a nose around the yard and figured I'd get a few shots of 78022, even if it's sat cold. Also seen were SR Bulleid Pacific No.34070 'Manston', newly overhauled LMS Black 5 No.45110 - who made its surprise debut at the line's CFoS - and resident GWR Grange No.6880 'Betton Grange'. Thankfully, I'd finished my yard shots just in time to nip around to the station around, ready for a shot of BR Class 26 No.26043 departing with the first of the day's diesel trains. We follow up with a return working, seen getting away from Winchcombe around Chicken Curve.
Moving to the other side of Winchcombe and beyond to the western portal of Greet Tunnel, we catch 2807 exiting the tunnel in a patch of weak sunshine, followed by a final shot of the 28, accelerating away from the speed restriction over the foot crossing at Bishops Cleeve. 26043 sees out the rest of the video, with a nice bit of power as it heads under Stanton Aqueduct. A quick dash to the other side of Toddington gets us another shot of the same run, as it powers away then coasts past Didbrook. We finish up with the return working, as the 26 lifts the train away from Gotherington and blasts under the bridge along Dixton Cutting. I just wish I had a third arm to wave back at all the kind two tones the crew provided 😅
Despite the booked steam loco for the day not being the one I was hoping for, I quite enjoyed this. It was a nice, chill day, where my dad and I had near enough every location to ourselves. That's just about perfect, in my books 👌
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Cotswold Mainline Diesel Group
