10 February 2025: The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) has announced the first of the locomotives to star at the railway’s flagship event, the Cotswold Festival of Steam over the late May bank holiday (24-26 May). This year, the Festival takes as its theme ‘Celebrating Railway 200’.
The visitor is ex-Southern Railway ‘West Country’ class Pacific, no.34092 City of Wells (subject to contract). This 1944-built locomotive has visited the GWSR before, for the Festival in 2015. It visits by courtesy of owner the East Lancashire Railway. It will be company for ‘big sister’, resident ex-SR ‘Merchant Navy’ class Pacific no. 35006 Peninsular & Oriental SN Co. Both locomotives were residents of Salisbury locomotive depot in the 1960s and worked passenger services between London and the West Country until the mid-1960s.
The railway expects to announce further visitors over coming weeks which will run with the railways home-based fleet.
Tom Willson, chairman of the event organising team, said: “The Cotswold Festival of Steam has become a landmark event for the railway, always putting on a spectacular show with an interesting range of visiting locomotives. We expect to be working at least eight steam locomotives to an intensive timetable over our attractive Cotswold railway, between Cheltenham Racecourseand Broadway.
“We will also be throwing open the doors to our locomotive depot atToddington as well as the Carriage & Wagon Works at Winchcombe - an opportunity to take a look ‘behind the scenes’.”
The event will also see several traction engines in steam at Toddington as well as miniatures. The Toddington Narrow Gauge Railway at Toddington also plans to run two steam locomotives on its delightful 2ft-gauge line. The private grounds at Gotherington station will also be open, including their siding on which visitors can have a go at working a ‘pump trolley’. A bus service will connect Cheltenham Racecourse station with the Cheltenham Spa Network Rail.
Added Tom Willson: “This show is a great way to add to the nation wide celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the first railway to run passenger trains with steam locomotives, the Stockton & Darlington railway. This projected railways into public consciousness and gave birth to railway networks across the world.”
Advance discounted tickets are now availableatwww.gwsr.com
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About visiting locomotive 34092 City of Wells
34092 is a member of the 110-strong identical ‘West Country’ and ‘Battleof Britain’ classes of Southern Railway ‘Pacific’ locomotives introduced by OVSBulleid in 1944. These three-cylinder locomotives were lighter-weight versions of Bulleid’s earlier ‘Merchant Navy’ design, with innovative feature sincluding chain-driven valve gear within an enclosed oil bath and ‘airsmoothed’ casing which were intended to reduce maintenance, cleaning andsimplify preparation for railway staff. In practice however, the innovations proved problematic and 60 of the class were rebuilt during the late1950s / early 1960s to a more conventional design, as were all of the ‘Merchant Navy’ class. 34092 was one of those not rebuilt. It was completedat Brighton works in 1949, initially allocated to Stewarts Lane in London,working trains over the Kent Coast line. It moved to Salisbury in 1961,being withdrawn in 1964 and sent to Barry scrapyard in South Wales. It was rescued by a group from the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in 1971, the overhaul being completed in 1979. In 1986 the engine was fitted with a Giesel ejector (as had sister 34064 in BR days) which improved the locomotive’s performance and also earned it the nickname ‘The Volcano’. Today the locomotive is owned by the East Lancashire Railway (ELR). It last visited the GWSR in 2010 and the railway is deeply grateful to the ELR for agreeing toa re-visit for the Railway 200-themed Cotswold Festival of Steam, 24-26 May2024. Please note, all locomotives subject to availability.
AboutRailway 200
2025 marks the bicentenary of modern railways, beginning with the revolutionary opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in September 1825. This pioneering line sparked a global transformation that continues to shape our world today. Railway 200 is a nationwide,year-long celebration that aims to showcase rail’s role in Britain’s past, present and future and inspire the next generation of railway talent both onthe national network and on heritage railways such as the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway. Four key themes of the celebration are: Skills and education, innovation; Innovation,technology & environment; Heritage culture and tourism and: Celebrating railway people.
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