GWSR | Cotswold Festival of Steam Gala | 23-25 May 2026

- 34070 "Manston" announced as taking part in the gala and is visiting from late April till July.
- GER Coffee Pot No. 229
- CR 439 No. 15189 (from Bo'ness)
- BR Std 2MT No. 78022 (from KWVR)
- LMS Black 5 No. 45110 (from WCR)

- 6880 "Betton Grange"
- 2807
- 3850

 

GER Coffee Pot No. 229 announced as second guest

 

I assume this will just do one trip between Toddington and Winchcombe at the start of the day when it's difficult to get there by public transport, as has happened in the past with small locos like the Calley Tank, Sentinel JOYCE and the Burrows Well Tanks.

 

Is the Standard 4 tank still coming down from Bo’ness for the spring/ summer?

 

We are looking at squeezing in a run more towards the middle of the day, as we are aware of the inferred issue above. To be fair the Caley tank would have been on plenty of full line passenger trains when it visited in 2019 but for issues that despite some truly herculean efforts by some key people couldn't quite be resolved. It did start the Winchcombe shunt slot pretty much by accident though, without that we probably wouldn't have had any reason to go for Joyce or the well tanks at all.

No, that has effectively been replaced by Manston due to issues with the Std 4 tank.

 

Thanks - that's good to know.

 

15189 from Bo'ness announced as the next visitor

 

Hopefully with spark arrestor !

 

"And This Time, Its Personal".

 

The next visitor will be announced at 5pm today

 

78022 announced

 

Booked up my hotel in Cheltenham for this one (which should be a better than the one I booked last year!)

Looking forward to seeing the Coffee Pot and 78022 for the first time, plus the Caley Tank in that stunning maroon.

 

I appreciate that there is still just over a month before the Gala, so nothing is probably yet fully finalised, but do we know when we can expect the timetable to be released, presumably early May as it was last year?

I'm looking to book my train travel to and from Cheltenham to the visit on the Saturday and Sunday (having already booked a night in the Premier Inn near the station), but with a 4hr or so return journey to Sussex on the Sunday, it'd be nice to know some rough times for the final few services to Cheltenham Racecourse (just so I can plan whether to get the 18:00 or 19:00 train home from Cheltenham Spa and allowances for any delays during the Gala). Unfortunately I have misplaced my timetable from last year's event to check that.

 

I was looking on the event page but there seems to be no mention of a shuttle bus between Cheltenham spa and Cheltenham racecourse station, does anyone have any idea if they are putting them on this gala thank you.

 

Good point

 

Tempted to visit on the Monday if the mainline service obliges. News on a shuttle bus would be useful. I have walked from Lansdown and back a couple of times.

 

We're currently looking into options following some difficulties in the past, we'll let you know as soon as we've got anything firm to announce.

 

Out of curiosity so that I can confirm and make arrangements. When can we expect the timetable please? Or is there another loco to be added to the line up? Thanks

 

There is hopefully one more loco to go, we may end up publishing the timetable before announcing that, we should be in a position to publish the timetable next week.

Sent from my PGT-N19 using Tapatalk

 

Timetable and hopefully a final visiting steam loco to be confirmed towards the end of this week all being well, but in the meantime happy to confirm GWR railcar No.22 will have its final running days during the gala, it has been bestowed the status of honorary steam engine for the weekend!