Solihull Widney

Railways and Steam Study Group

This is a group which welcomes new members

We met initially in June 2016 to discuss the viability of the group.

All of the people attending were very enthusiastic and wanted the group to be a success. As our initial remit was to be Steam Railways we thought it would be better to broaden this to include all steam engineering.

We decided that our group would not meet monthly but that we would be more flexible in our approach and meet to visit or discuss interesting steam events.

The group meets every second Month

Steam And Railway Group Outing - 10th July 2019

Wednesday 10th July, 17 of us braved the warm and sunny weather to congregate on the platform at Cheltenham Race Course Station to begin our outing on the Gloucestershire And Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR). For the first part of our journey, to Broadway, the train was pulled by locomotive 4-6-2 35006 Peninsular & Orient S. N. Co. a member of the Southern Railway Merchant Navy Class. This engine also took us back to Toddington Station on the first part of our return journey. At Toddington we got off and walked the short distance to The Pheasant to partake of lunch.

Resuming our journey on the railway, the train was pulled by 2-8-0T 4270 a member of the Great Western Railway Class 4200 for our return to Cheltenham. Here a number of the party returned to Broadway by car for further refreshments.

The GWSR is run by 7 paid employees and over 900 volunteers and runs for over 14 miles through the Cotswold countryside. There are four well maintained primary stations, including the new station at Broadway which opened in 2018, and two halts where trains stop only by request.
The group's next excursion is to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway and the Kent and East Sussex Railway on 3rd/4th September. Please contact Ian Clarke for more details.

Thank you to Ian Clarke for organising this event.

Alan Homer.

Another point of view

Your Correspondent joined the Railway and Steam Group on their trip to the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway (GWR) on Wednesday 10 July 2019. We met at Cheltenham Racecourse Station, at the southern end of the line. We were delighted to see our train arrive, hauled by 35006 – Peninsular & Oriental Steam 1 GWSR SN Co – a Bulleid Pacific – looking in fine fettle. This massive engine was originally built in the Eastleigh works of the Southern Railway in 1941. Decommissioned by BR in 1964 having clocked up 1.1 million miles in Southern Railways and British Railways service, it was eventually restored by the GWR at Toddington and is now the “flagship” of their fleet.

It hauled us to Broadway, and then we returned to Toddington, where we lunched at the Pheasant Inn. Excellent lunch and very good service.

Then we returned from Toddington to Cheltenham, steam hauled again by 4270 – 2-8-0 tank engine. Originally built in 1919 suitable for hauling heavy coal trains in the Welsh valleys, this has now become a workhorse of the GWR from the Toddington shed.

An excellent trip – looking forward to the next one!

R.M.

For further details contact Brian Hales or Ian Clark

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More Group Pages
Art & Culture Book Group
Bookworms Bridge 2 - Affiliated to SWU3A - Widney
Canasta Coffee Club
Creative Writing Curry Club - for Widney Members
Discussion Group French - Language (Beginners)
Garden Group Interesting Places
Military & Social History Group Music Appreciation 1
Music Appreciation Group 2 Page Turners
Painting Photography
Poetry Railways and Steam Study Group
Science Short Walks Group
Spanish - Beginners Spanish - Intermediate
Square Heads Sunday Lunch Club
Walking Group Zingari Singers