35006 – 'Peninsular & Oriental SN Co' resurrected

I headed off on a jaunt towards the north of Gloucestershire this morning.  I wanted to test out a viewpoint for future pictures of a steam train crossing a long viaduct on the GWR heritage railway, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, formerly nicknamed 'The Honeybourne Line'.

We have visited a few times before and travelled up and down the 12 miles from Cheltenham to its headquarters at Toddington.  Recently the line has been extended about a mile beyond Toddington, now that the viaduct has been strengthened. I'd hoped that I could find a suitable distant viewpoint to film a steam engine with carriages crossing the viaduct valley.  

So I wandered along a country road through the land of the Stanway estate, running parallel with the railway, and was delighted to see the viaduct about a mile away across fields.  I spotted a bridleway going in the right direction, parked and ambled towards a herd of grazing horses under hundreds of prancing swifts and swallows feeding in the air above.

The train came but wasn't that impressive, as it could only move slowly and there wasn't much smoke.  But another bigger engine might provide a good subject.  I've added a picture of 4270 on the viaduct to the 'Extra Photos'.

I went to visit the village and also the big house of Stanway whose stone walls all have the most wondrous yellow colour coming from a quarry a mile away up the hillside of the Cotswold escarpment.  Then I went to the station to have a look at the workshops and chec on other steam engines.

I found I could get access to a path where visitors could see the railway tracks leading into the repair shed, where a mix of old steam and diesel engines are stored next to passenger carriages and goods vans.  I had been told that a famous old engine would be visible there, a Merchant Navy class pacific, 35006 –'Peninsular & Oriental SN Co'. 

This is an engine I saw countless times, when I was a kid trainspotting on the Southern Region, when it ran from Waterloo on the big express trains to the west of England.  When the steam locomotives were removed from use in the late 1960s, it was sent to a breaker's yard in Barry, south Wales, along with hundreds of other engines.  It was rescued from there but has been awaiting repair ever since.  Now it is nearly ready to start working again on this railway and as you can see it looks in fine form.  The boiler has just passed all its safety tests.  It even recently moved under its own steam, as they say, although only using two of its three cylinders which provide power to the wheels.  I was told that it should be finished by Christmas and will be working from then on.

While standing on the path, I asked a couple of the volunteers working in the yard if I could come inside and take a photograph or two.  They kindly agreed and let me get up close.  Unfortunately the only way to see it was from this angle looking towards the light from the sun although the clouds helped.

There is a steam train excursion coming through Stroud tomorrow so I hope to photograph that too. It will be a similar size loco but originally from the Midland Region so will be a completely different design and colour.  See you back here hopefully for another episode.

From the GWR website:
35006 moves again - after 51 years!  posted on 12/08/2015

August 10th was a rain-free but slightly dull day - but not for the 60 or so P&O Society members who turned up at Toddington to see their locomotive turn a wheel under its own power, almost exactly 51 years since the engine last came to a halt at its home shed, Salisbury.