GWR 175 Homepage
Welcome!
Welcome to our
GWR175 pages, presented in association with The Railway Magazine:
our media partner, and STEAM, the museum of the Great Western
Railway in Swindon.
On these pages you will find everything you need to know about
how the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is celebrating the
175th Anniversary of the Great Western
Railway.
Please note that this section of the site is constantly
developing as more and more details become available to publish.
Keep checking back for updates.
The GWR175 Cotswold Festival of Steam - 29 May-6 June 2010
Follow the menu down the left-hand side of the page or click the
links within the narrative below to find out all you need to
know.
Biggest and best!
This event will not only be
the most ambitious that the Railway has ever organised, it will
also be the UK's pre-eminent celebration of this important
milestone in the Great Western Railway's history.
But there are many other GWR175 events taking place.
Thanks to the GWR Forum, an initiative of STEAM at Swindon, all
railway interests have co-operated closely to ensure that there are
no date clashes and that each organisation supports the others in
their effort to ensure that GWR175 is marked in the best possible
manner. Indeed, while our own event clearly relies on hire of
locomotives from other railway centres - for example, Chruchward
2-6-0 no. 5322 from Didcot Railway Centre, we are also loaning
locomotives elsewhere - for example 9F 2-10-0 taking part in the
GWR175 'Standard' event on the West Somerset Railway in March and
3717 'City of Truro' to both Didcot and the Swindon & Cricklade
Railway.
You can find a diary of all GWR175 events on the STEAM website
here.
Tickets please!
You only need to pay once, the ticket
price includes entry to GWR175 and unlimited train travel all day.
There is no separate cost to enter the event - it's fantastic value
for a great day out. If you want to book discounted tickets
online, do so now as the closing date is rapidly
approaching!
The period during which tickets were available to buy on line
has no passed and all further tickets should be bought on the
day.
Programme
A comprehensive timetable is planned and this will be available
in due course on this website with a different range of locomotives
in use each day of the nine-day Festival. The timetable will
include auto-trains, GWR freight and non-stop services. There are
several visiting locomotives to make this an occasion well worth
visiting. Those engines not in use on each day will be
positioned for photography in the yard and footplate visits will be
possible to at least one locomotive every day, with other footplate
visit opportunities when engines are laying-over between turns.
The programme includes events and things to see and do at
Toddington, Winchcombe and Gotherington. We are also very happy to
be able to say there will be regular chances to travel across
Stanway viaduct each day in the autotrain.
And the rest!
On the menu on the left, you'll also find our site packed with
info about the history of the Great Western, some great images, how
to obtain a line side pass, details of our exclusive
limited-edition GWR175 montage painting by Frederick Lea as well as
other souvenirs and keepsakes of the event; where to find
accommodation if you plan to say a while; details of our railwayana
auction with some items being sold in aid of local charities and
the official GWR175 charity The Railway Children; nameplate,
station totem and other displays; model live-steam Great Western
Railway locomotives; catering and much much more!