Historic loco’s 60th birthday (From Evesham Journal)

Historic loco’s 60th birthday

10:53am Thursday 9th July 2009

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GLOUCESTERSHIRE Warwickshire Railway (GWR) got up a full head of steam to celebrate a special lady’s 60th birthday.

The lady in question was Foremarke Hall, a steam engine running on the volunteer-run heritage railway line between Toddington and Cheltenham.

To celebrate, GWR allowed anyone born in 1949, the year Foremarke Hall was built, to travel on the 10-mile line for free for two days.

Foremarke Hall – locomotive 7903 – was built at Swindon and is still resplendent in early British Railways green livery.

The engine once held the post-war record for the London-Plymouth run, which she completed in less than four hours.

Condemned to a south Wales scrapyard by the end of the steam era in 1964, she was rusting away until the Foremarke Hall Group rescued her in 1981.

The Group spent 25 years rebuilding her and completed the work five years ago, since when she has been one of GWR’s star attractions.

GWR commercial director Malcolm Temple said: “It’s a delight to celebrate this milestone.

“It has to be said that the engine looks a lot fitter than some of us volunteers who have reached our sixth decade.”

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