GWSR General Discussion and Operations

I might be doing it an injustice, but cant recall anything outstanding to visit in BC. Pleasent market town on edge of Cheltenham. Some issues with youth in the past, but it's all relative and proportional to the area.

Not worth the investment in my eyes and not sure the view from the window into the back of a housing estate is much to look at if the train was ever to stop at what only could be a halt.

 

Now, what about Willersey halt - just under a mile from Broadway going north, easy terrain, one bridge refurb to do, one up for debate as never used, a pretty village with a pond and two pubs.
A bite sized bit towards Honeybourne.
The rail car shuttle leaves from platform two....

 

Now that's a great idea. Great traditional cotswold village. A real little treasure.

Now where did I leave that station building. Oh yes just need Llangolan or SVR? (cant remember) to sell it and put it back where they found it!

 

Llangollen had Weston Subedge, which looks very nice rebuilt at Carrog.

Bob.

 

I think you're thinking of Weston-Sub-Edge, the Platform 2 building (same/very similar to that at Toddington) ended up at Carrog. Willersey was a halt, and would have been similar in style to Hayles Abbey.

 

Willersey was a halt, with Pagodas:

http://www.willersey.org/history.htm

See pictures about half way down the page.

 

On behalf of the HAYLES ABBEY team (who rebuilt it, and who are currently rebuilding the Usk weighbridge building at Winchcombe) I can say we would be more than happy to rebuild Willersey halt

 

This would in some ways be akin to Leekbrook on the Churnet Valley, where the service runs around after passing through the station at Cheddleton, but in your case with the big advantage of being a destination in its own right too.

 

Puts me in mind of the question "how do you devour an elephant?"

 

Possible 16 miles 1 mile extension but how does the G.S.W.R. put the appeal in for the bridge refurb 1 mile of trackbed refresh of track bed, ballast, sleepers, and new Halt at Willersey if the idea moves forward from theory into reality a 1 mile out of 4 step closer to Honeybourne if so?
Davo 56F

 

Jo, this is a great idea! Willersey is indeed a nice village on the edge of the Cotswolds and its prime attraction is that it has a Donnington's pub, The New Inn. See:
https://www.donnington-brewery.com/the_new_inn_willersey_broadway.htm
Donnington's BB is a lovely 'ordinary bitter' with way more character than its bigger brother SBA. I could imagine supping a few right now, though I am half-a-world away...

Willersey Halt could be rebuilt with pagodas and perhaps K&ESR could be persuaded to hire out their GWR railcar (W20W) for the opening if it is ready by then...
And did the Flying Bananas run down the Stratford to Cheltenham line when the high speed service between Birmingham and Cardiff was in operation?

However, this will all depend on the ownership of the Honeybourne to Broadway trackbed and, while I agree that the short stretch to Willersey would undoubtedly be the first bite of that cherry if it were possible, the actual ownership is not in railway hands... (Unless you have heard any little birdy talk Jo?)

 

I decided to see what I could find to answer my own question (above) concerning the use of GWR diesel railcars on the Birmingham to Cardiff route via Stratford.
The GWR pioneered the use of express diesel railcars with a buffet facility from July 1934 along this route. See:
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/North_Warwickshire_Line#/Possible_future_development
What a nice picture of a West Midlands Trains Class 172 at Stratford, looking for all the world as if it is about to head south to Honeybourne...
The footbridge looks great too!
As for the Flying Banana diesel railcars, I found this: https://www.rail-online.co.uk/p190563228
Scrolling down you will find a picture of W20W on-shed at Cheltenham Malvern Road in 1958.
Perhaps we might well see W20W (in GWR livery?) once again trundling, if not exactly hurtling, along the line from Willersey, perhaps Honeybourne even, down to Cheltenham one day, although it is unlikely to reach Malvern Road except in one's musings... (Then again, you never know...)

 

7820 Dinmore Manor & 42xx No. 4270 steam through the Cotswolds in charge of this morning's operations.

 

Keeping the idea of Willersey going. First of all let me say that even though this is my first post, I’ve been following NP for years.

I was wondering what the approximate cost implications would be in relaying to Willersey? I know that the track bed is not in the hands of the railway, but assuming it was. Also would there be any advantage to relaying from Broadway to Willersey as double track, or at least with the possibility of doubling it in the future, if the line ever gets back to Honeybourne.
As much as I appreciate that the railway needs to run long trains with full carriages bringing in the funds to keep the railway going I do wonder if there’s a market for shorter trains recreating the “stoppers” of the past, using as someone already mentioned, the Flying Bannana or maybe a Pannier with a couple of heritage carriages.

Just thinking out loud and would be interested in peoples thoughts

 

A Pannier and two coaches running an all stations stopper including Hales abbey halt, or even an DMU would certainly be an attraction, but you could only run it a couple of times , because of the timetabling, but saying that, it could be a way to get the shuttle to and from Broadway, say, first one out, last one back, should the railway decide to extend again as far as Willersey, The extension of course will be a major draw on funds, purchasing the land would be quite cheap, its the bridge, unless they get luccky and can source some beams from a future NR remodelling scheme, but saying that, Willersey would be an destination in its own right,

 

I've not really got any thoughts on Willersey, but I can't see the advantage of making that double track. The section to double track would be Toddington to Broadway, that's usually the limiting factor as the longest section.

There is a strong body of opinion that once we commission Broadway P2 and signal box we'd probably want to look at running a Winchcombe-Broadway shuttle as an extra to the 2 train timetable. As things stand the DMU is very underused in comparison to previous years, and the standard 2 train timetable is a little sparse, certainly for peak times. Of course more trains means more volunteers, and we have to be 100% sure we can man Broadway all of the time before opening it as once we do, there's no easy going back if gaps start appearing in the roster.

I would love to see that shuttle be a pannier and a couple of GWR coaches on bank holidays and high days, but it's difficult to imagine. We will never be a railway that takes on basket case wooden carriages I'm afraid, it's just not going to happen now. The only way I can see us getting any in would be to scout around the few privately owned ones being restored and entice them to move here. For that we almost certainly would need a carriage shed, which is still some way off, although planning is progressing.

 

Although I travel several time a year on the railway, in addition to the odd Gala; the appeal of end to end running is much less than the drop on drop off basis; buying tea and cake at Winchcombe or watching a loco pass at Haile's Halt. Certainly easier to encourage the rest of the family to join me if we do that and walk a bit at the same time. Surely the future has to include this type of interactive journey experience rather than just sit in a coach for a few hours; however nice the scenery is outside the window!

Assume steaming fees and coal consumption must be much less on a Pannier & a couple of coaches? An auto coach or two would be great but even a Mk1 is perfectly OK. Although the DMU still has the best view of the Cotswold scenery & as mentioned above, not used as much as it should.

 

Well it depends what you're comparing it to! Less than a class 5 loco with 7 or 8 coaches behind it, yes, but that's not really a fair comparison. Still much more expensive than a DMU, which is I think a fairer comparison. Of course preferably rather than a pannier and a couple of coaches you'd have an auto train or the steam rail motor and trailer so no need for run-rounds either.

 

Didcot's Steam railcar ? that would be interesting, not sure though if it would be practical to run the whole line, you would need to get it in a siding somewhere to take water and top up coal,possibly remake the fire, but Winchcombe to Toddington, where it could get of the main line at either end, to be serviced might work.