Next month’s Cotswold Festival of Steam at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s (GWSR) is to feature the Standard Class 2 2-6-0 No. 78019, which featured in the 1955 British Transport documentary Film Snowdrift at Bleath Gill.

In the film, 78019 rescued sister No. 78018 that had got stuck in a snowdrift at Bleath Gill near Stainmore Summit on 24th February 1955 while hauling a goods train with 20-ton wagons of limestone and minerals.

The festival, to be held from Friday, 12th to Sunday, 14th, May, will also feature Standard class 4 4-6-0 No. 75014 Braveheart, Castle Class No. 4079 Pendennis Castle, and Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway ‘Pug’ No. 11243.

Altogether there will be up to eight steam locomotives running at the Festival to provide an action-packed timetable of trains, with goods trains and shunting demonstrations to add to the passenger services. Visitors will also be able to view the locomotive and carriage & wagon workshops, which will be offering rare behind-the-scenes tours, and there will also be plenty of other activity at the railway’s stations. The festival will provide a wonderful opportunity to travel between two visiting Standards.

Further information about the Festival and tickets are available online at www.gwsr.com.

78019 is one of 65 BR Standard 2 2-6-0s that were constructed at Darlington Works between 1952 and 1956, and were virtually identical to the earlier LMS Ivatt 2-6-0s from which they were derived. They were mainly used for hauling light passenger trains on branch lines.

The class was no stranger to Gloucestershire, as between 1962 and December 1965, 78001, 78004, 78005, 78006 and 78009 were allocated to Gloucester Barnwood Horton Road sheds, (85B). A regular working for one of the locomotives was the daily goods on the ex-Midland branch from Stonehouse to Stroud, Dudbridge, Woodchester, and Nailsworth. The class was also used on passenger workings between Hereford, Gloucester, and beyond.

After withdrawal by British Railways, 78019 was sold to Woodham’s yard in Barry, South Wales where it remained until March 1973, when it was purchased by Charles Newton. It was initially moved to a private site, before being transferred to the Severn Valley Railway where it remained for over 20 years until 1998, following a deal was reached between Loughborough Standard Locomotive Group Ltd and Charles Newton that agreed for joint equal ownership of the locomotive. It was moved to Loughborough where it was restored before returning to steam on the Great Central Railway in 2004 and appearing at its Summer Gala.

Proving itself to be both an economical and capable locomotive, operated successfully for ten years with just routine maintenance, until its boiler ticket expired in May 2015. A heavy overhaul at Loughborough then ensued, with some of the work including the boiler being carried out at Tyseley. This was completed in 2022 and 78019 returned to traffic last November in time for the Great Central Railways ‘Last Hurrah’ Gala, where it worked alongside sister locomotive no 78018.