Railway volunteers hailed the Cotswold Festival of Steam event held at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) in May as a great success for the railway.

The event which took place between 25 – 27 May had a lineup of seven steam engines, three of which were completed new build steam locomotives that have entered service with in the last 5 years.

The newest locomotive, Grange 4-6-0 No. 6880 Betton Grange, was completed just days before the event and pulled its first revenue earning trains at the railway.

Owned by the 6880 Society Betton Grange is a recreation of a member of the GWR Grange class. This class was extremely successful and is a testament to designer Charles Collett.

It was a shame that none of the original 80 members made it into preservation. This set in motion the project to build the 81st Grange, so that people can enjoy the sights and sounds of this iconic class of locomotive once more, and for those that attended the festival it was a first in over 59 years.

Betton Grange will stay at the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway running every day, subject to availability until Sunday June 16 (Father’s day).

The three-day event was blessed with fine weather and sunshine which contributed to an attendance just shy of 4,500 passengers who came to ride behind the locomotive’s on the lines scenic 14-mile railway between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway.

This included travelling over Stanway viaduct, which had also just received heavy maintenance work because due to cracks that appeared on the structure, which were subsequently repaired before Easter.

The other two new builds in service at the Cotswolds Festival of Steam were 4-6-0 No. 2999 Lady of Legend, a member of the Saint class which was a forerunner to the highly successful GWR Hall class.

All the saints were scrapped by 1953 and the building Lady of Legend was undertaken by the Great Western Society at Didcot. This engine has been in service for 5 years.

While the West Somerset Railway converted a 2-6-2T prairie tank engine into a new build ‘mogul’ 2-6-0 No.9351, the locomotive represents a class of engine that was designed but never built. This loco has also been in traffic for 5 years.

“This was without doubt, one of the most successful Cotswold Festivals of Steam ever and the attraction of the new locomotives, running alongside our own fleet, clearly had broad appeal.  The Saturday was our second-busiest day ever, not quite matching the 2,300 people who attended for the Saturday of the 2018 Festival, which was when we opened the line to brand new Broadway station.

“So many people make the Cotswold Festival of Steam, which last year won the Cotswold Concierge ‘Event of the Year’ award, the success that it is.  It’s a real team effort.  Every volunteer pulls together to welcome our visitors and the praise we have had for the organisation, the variety of trains, the goods train as well as the range of additional attractions is truly humbling.

“Of course, we all enjoy putting on the show even though it can be stressful at times, pulling all the separate threads together.  But the most important thing is that our visitors enjoy it too: the icing on the cake is comments such as “The best steam gala I have ever attended” and “The GWSR really knows how to stage a spectacular event”.

Tom Willson, chairman of the volunteer organising committee

“Putting on a really ambitious event like this is extremely expensive.  Many costs have risen significantly over the past four years – not least the cost bringing in locomotives by road transport and coal, which now has to be imported from overseas following closure of the last British mine extracting suitable coal. 

“There is an obvious financial risk but I’m so pleased that the event was in the black by the time the first train had departed Toddington on the Saturday.  We benefited hugely from online sales, which this year broke all past records.

“Running a steam railway over an infrastructure that is over 100 years old brings a large financial burden.  For example, the recent essential repairs to and ongoing refurbishment of Stanway viaduct will cost £1.8 million while our overall life-expired steel bridges needing attention are examples of the kind of expensive repairs we face.  That’s quite apart from the daily cost of actually running steam and diesel-hauled train services.

“The Cotswold Festival of Steam brings a very welcome income boost to help us to maintain our wonderful railway for all to enjoy.”

Richard Winstanley, the railway’s voluntary finance director

Plans are already being set out for next years Cotswold Festival of Steam. 2025 marks 200 years since the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway which was the pioneer of the national railway network today not just here but across the globe. A national celebration ‘Rail 200’ will be marked by heritage railways across the UK.

“We will be playing our part in Rail 200 – how this plays out, you’ll have to wait and see. The event we have just run will be a hard act to follow, but we are certainly up for the challenge!”

Tom Willson, chairman of the volunteer organising committee