A Talk on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway

Throughout this year we have had numerous visits and talks the most recent being a talk on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway (GWR). The evening meeting was held on September 8 at Ecgwins PMC and the talk was given by John Mayell. David Way, past Chairman of the Civic Society, welcomed members and guests and introduced John who has been a GWR volunteer for 10 years.

John talked very enthusiastically about the history of the line, its decline, its rebirth and its plans for the future. He mentioned that the line was originally opened in 1906 and was rather late on the great rush into rail travel and transport that was happening at that time. It was known as the Honeybourne Line and ran from Cheltenham to Honeybourne and on to Stratford on Avon, travelling through some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. Then came The Beeching Report, the last Cornishman Express ran on the line in 1962 and other passenger train services stopped that year. Goods traffic stopped after the catastrophic coal train derailment in 1976 on Chicken Curve near Gotherington and the line closed. Over the next year BR took up most of the track and demolished most of the stations, signal boxes and rail infrastructure. However in 1981 over the hill came the cavalry with the formation of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway Plc.

Now 34 years later, John is one of a force of 900 volunteers including 2 full time and 2 part time paid employees, from all walks of life. GWR has produced an amazing feat of civil engineering and building work during its tenure to reconstruct 12 miles of track, 4 rail stations and halts, signal boxes, sidings, goods yards, engine sheds and workshops, replacing most of the other infrastructure BR had so rapidly removed. It has overcome delays, such as land slips at near Winchcombe and at Chicken Curve (that name again) between 2010 -2012, that set their programme back by 2years and cost 1.5 million pounds to repair. It runs 16 steam and diesel engines, salvaged from various scrap yards particularly from Barry in South Wales, restored dilapidated rolling stock and reclaimed unwanted and obsolete structures and materials from Network Rail and derelict BR lines.

John then went on to describe their future plans. The track is now only 2 miles from Broadway, the station and signal box are almost complete, so in 2018 there will be a very major link from Cheltenham to Broadway via the stations and halts on route. Beyond that John thought it unlikely to consider the future extensions to Honeybourne and thence Stratford on Avon because of cost, engineering and land negotiations. He felt they needed a period of consolidation and with Volunteers help, GWR would concentrate on running a good heritage line for some time to come.

John took questions from the floor and was then thanked by David Way on behalf of the Civic Society members and guests.

Our next meeting is a Forum at the Evesham Rowing Club at 2pm on the Thursday, September 24 to discuss local issues. Our next trip is on the Thursday, October 8 to Tetbury and Westonbirt Arboretum, anyone interested in these events should contact Programme Secretary, Sue Campbell, on 01386 47434 or vecs1972@gmail.com.

JOHN MAYELL