060401 - G&WR spring Diesel Gala

1st April 2006

The road is long, as the song goes. In the case of the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway (that's over 600 points in Scrabble, by the way) the road is almost 130 miles long each way, but the journey is well worth it. Especially if they have a Gala on. Which they did.

In spite of missing the first shuttle from Toddington, lead by 47376, the day went relatively smoothly. I spent the day mostly tripping between Winchcombe and Cheltenham Racecourse. This is currently the longest section but it was largely due to the quirks of the timetable and my insatiable desire to score all the loco's that led to this happening. My mate Tony broke away at one point to do another turn with 37324 "Clydebridge" and it's easy to see why as the thing is clearly hellfire, but for me the highlight was 56003. Freshly turned out in Load Haul livery and sounding fabulous, it made the back of my neck tingle every time it loaded up. Bonus beasts were blue 24081 and green 20137. Great stuff!

060401_01_GWR_Toddington_37324.jpg	060401_03_GWR_Toddington_47376.jpg	060401_06_GWR_Cheltenham_Racecourse_47105.jpg	060401_08_GWR_Cheltenham_Racecourse_56003.jpg
060401_10_GWR_Winchcombe_37324.jpg	060401_15_GWR_Gotherington.jpg	060401_17_GWR_Winchcombe_37324.jpg	060401_20_GWR_Cheltenham_Racecourse_24081.jpg
060401_26_GWR_Winchcombe_56003.jpg	060401_27_GWR_Greet_56003.jpg	060401_29_GWR_Winchcombe_56003.jpg	060401_33_GWR_Winchcombe_20137.jpg
060401_34_GWR_Cheltenham_Racecourse_24081.jpg	060401_35_GWR_Toddington_D2069.jpg