The view that greets the visitor to the Great Western Society's premises at the preserved former Great Western Railway loco shed at Didcot. Prominent is the coaling stage topped with the shed water tank holding 74,250 gallons. I have coaled A4 60009 from the stage, it involves shovelling coal from wagons into small tubs then tipping them into the tender.
An interloper from Southern metals. Former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway class A1X terrier 2678 in unlined Southern Railway black livery.
DL26 is a six coupled diesel mechanical shunting loco built in Leeds in 1957 by Hunslet.
3738 is a member of the ubiquitous 57xx class of pannier tank locos. It was turned out of Swindon in 1937 and allocated to Old Oak Common in west London. It was withdrawn in August 1965 and went to Barry Scrapyard where it was bought from in 1974 and returned to steam in 1976.
The shed pilot is class 08 shunter 08604 carrying the number 604 and named Phantom. It was built at Derby in 1959 and withdrawn from Tyseley depot in Birmingham.
3738 and 2678 are coupled together whilst on the next road over is Avonside Engine Co tank loco No 1340 "Trojan". 1340 is operating the demonstration line trains and is heading back after a crew break.
The small 0-4-0 saddle tank loco was built in 1897 by the Avonside Engine Co of Bristol, works number 1386. It was employed at Newport Docks for Messrs Dunn and Shute. It was bought for use at Alexandra Docks and absorbed into the GWR in 1923.
08604 has come to life and goes about rearranging some of the locos including 2678, 3738 and 7808 "Cookham Manor".
7808 "Cookham Manor" is one of the Manor class of 4-6-0 locos designed by CB Collett and outshopped from Swindon in 1938. It was withdrawn in 1965 and bought direct from BR, it is currently out of ticket. 30 Manors were built with 8 surviving, 7808 has been a mainline performer.
The locos are slowly being pushed into the shed. 3738 is fitted with a mock up spark arrester for working the Vinegar branch in Worcester.
This is a special loco, 2999 "Lady of Legend". It is a new build loco and a recreation of a Saint class 4-6-0 taking the next sequential number and being named for Diana, Princess of Wales.
The last Saint was withdrawn in 1953 and 2999 was turned out in 2019. It used the frames and boiler from Hall class loco 4942 "Maindy Hall". The 6' 8 1/2" wheels were cast new, as were the bogie wheels. The boiler was heavily modified also. I do not know about the tender.
The Saint class were designed by GJ Churchward and first introduced in 1902 with 76 being built over 11 years. Building this loco fills a gap in the list of preserved GWR classes.
Outside the shed and getting a warm from the sun is class 43xx 5322 and 6959 Modified Hall 6998 "Burton Agnes Hall". The pair are nicely framed by the two water columns. 6998 was bought direct from BR in January 1966 after some 17 years of service for British Railways only, it was built in January 1949.
This 2-6-0 was built at Swindon in 1917 and sent to France to help with the war effort. It was operated by the Railway Operating Division, hence the ROD on the tender.
Moving into the shed now and prairie 2-6-2T 5572 is nearest the door. 5572 was built at Swindon in February 1929 and withdrawn in April 1962 and sold for scrap to Dai Woodham of Barry. It languished there for 9 years before being bought in August 1971. This loco is one of 13 of the class fitted for push-pull work in 1953. It is currently out of ticket.
6106 is a large prairie of the 61xx class. This loco was turned out of Swindon in May 1931 and had a working life of 31 1/2 years and was bought direct from BR in 1966. It is currently out of ticket but was cosmetically overhauled in 2019. Out of 70 locos in the class, this is the only survivor.
6697 is one of the 200 strong 56xx class 0-6-2T loco built for the coal traffic from the South Wales coalfields. Unusually this is one of 50 of the class NOT to be built at Swindon, but came from the Armstrong Whitworth works in Newcastle in October 1928. Nine of the class are preserved.
A tight view of 5900 "Hinderton Hall" inside the running shed. 5900 was outshopped from Swindon in 1931 and withdrawn in 1963 going for scrap to Barry Island. It departed there in June 1971 and returned to steam in 1976.
A non GWR loco is "Bonnie Prince Charlie", works No 7544, built by Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn in Newcastle in 1949. It was ordered by Corralls Ltd to work their sidings at Poole Harbour. The loco never carried a running number just its works number on the works plate. In 1965 it was moved to Corralls' depot at Dibles Wharf at Southampton and was bought for preservation in 1969. It last steamed in 1995.
3822 is a 2-8-0 heavy freight loco introduced in 1938 by Collett as a development of Churchward's 1903 design. It was built at Swindon in April 1940 and worked until March 1964 when it went to Barry for scrap. It was bought in 1976 and is one of the nine members preserved out of a class of 83. It wears GWR unlined black livery and is currently out of ticket.
1338 is one of two locos built by Kitson's of Leeds in 1898 for the Cardiff Railway. It came into GWR ownership when the Cardiff Railway was absorbed in 1923. Sister loco 1339 was scrapped in 1934 but 1338 worked on until 1963. The two locos were unusual as they had Kitson-Hawthorn valve gear with the link above the running plate. On withdrawal 1338 had amassed 354,000 miles.
This 0-4-0 well tank loco was built in 1857 by George England & Co for the Sandy & Potton Railway. A varied life saw it owned by the LNWR, Wantage Tramway then the GWR. It was restored to steam in 1969 but hasn't run since 1975 due to firebox cracks. In 2017 it was cosmetically restored to its original Wantage Tramway red livery and number, 5.
Another tight view this time of Castle class 4-6-0 5051 Drysllwyn Castle. 5051 was outshopped from Swindon in may 1936 and carried the name Drysllwyn Castle for 15 months before being renamed "Earl Bathurst". It was withdrawn in 1963 and rescued from Barry in 1970. It has been overhauled twice first in 1980 and again in 1998. It has been a mainline performer carrying both names at different times. It last steamed in 2008 and currently carries the Drysllwyn Castle nameplates.
The pinnacle of GWR motive power is the King class 4-6-0. 6023 is "King Edward II" which was outshopped from Swindon in June 1930 and withdrawn in June 1962 and ended up in Barry scrapyard. I photographed it at Barry on 9th July 1983 when it was considered to be a no hoper as the trailing driving wheels had been sliced through following a derailment, it was easier than lifting the loco to rerail it. It departed Barry in 1985 and returned to steam with new rear driving wheels and a single chimney in January 2011. It has run on the mainline and last steamed in September 2020. It wears BR blue livery with early crest.
Swindon built a fleet of 56 diesel hydraulic six coupled locos for shunting and short trip freight workings. D9516 entered service in October 1964 and withdrawn just four years later as most of its intended work had ceased. It was sold, like all the other class members, into industrial use going to the British Steel Corporation works at Corby. It was bought for preservation in October 1981 coming to Didcot via two other railways in May 2014.
2678 and 3738 have been shunted into the running shed and left. The four road shed was built by the Great Western railway in 1932, three of the roads retains their smoke hoods with BR removing one of them.
Poking its smokebox out of the door is prairie 2-6-2T 4144. Built at Swindon in September 1946, it spent most of its life at Severn Tunnel Junction until withdrawn in March 1966 and moved to nearby Barry Island scrapyard. It was bought for preservation in 1974.
Shunter 08604 has collected 2999 from the coal dock road and taken it to the turntable to be turned. We did not see the actual turn sadly but I did secure this shot of it on the table.
08604 slowly takes 2999 away from the turntable to go into the shed.
On the demonstration line 1340 "Trojan" goes by with the turntable in the foreground. The original shed table was put here and it was of 65' diameter. BR removed the table and filled the pit in when steam was finished. The GWS acquired a former Southern Region 70 foot turntable and dug out and enlarged the pit to accept it.
Parked up on one of the short turntable roads is former GWR gas turbine loco No 18000. It was ordered from Brown, Boveri & Cie in Switzerland in 1946 and delivered in 1949. The loco is an A1A-A1A powered by a Brown Boveri industrial turboshaft gas turbine engine rate at 2,500hp. It also had a small diesel engine for starting the gas turbine and for moving the loco at slow speeds.
It was withdrawn after 11 unreliable years and stored at Swindon for four years before going to Europe for test purposes. In Europe it was substantially altered and had the gas turbine equipment removed. In 1975 it was moved to Vienna and displayed outside the Mechanical Engineering Testing Centre. It was bought for preservation in the early 1990's and went on display at the Crewe Heritage Centre. 18000 was painted in BR green at Barrow Hill in July 2011. It is currently owned by the Pete Waterman trust and is awaiting cosmetic conservation. The loco was nicknamed "Kerosene Castle".
The carriage sheds are served by a traverser for accessing the various roads without numerous turnouts. The equipment originally came from Derby and was heavily modified for use here. It saves a great deal of space.
GWR autocoach W231 was designed by Hawksworth and is the final design of auto trailer, it was built at Swindon in 1951. It was the first coach acquirded by the GWS in 1964. It has received an overhaul and repaint in 2021 and looks stunning in carmine and cream livery. It is fully operational.
This short length of Brunel's broad gauge track has three sections of his ill fated atmospheric traction pipe to show what he envisaged. These pipes are 22 inches in diameter and were intended for the steeper sections where extra traction was required. The usual diamter was 15 inches. This section represents part of the 1 in 36 grade of Dainton Bank.
The system failed due to air leaking into the pipe through the leather hinged flaps in teh slot at the top of the pipes. These three pipes were discovered in 1993 at Goodrington Sands in use as drainage pipes. They were being removed and three sections were bought and after conservation were put on display in May 2000. Other pipe sections are preserved elsewhere.
This is a replica of the broad gauge loco Iron Duke. It is a 4-4-0 loc built in 1985 by RESCO Railways using parts from two Hunslet Austerity tank locos and other fabricated parts. It was built as part of the GWR 150 celebrations and is part of the National Collection. It is long out of ticket and hasn't steamed in many years. The original Iron Duke class of loco was introduced in 1847 and this replica is of one of the first batch of 29 members of the class.
This part of the shed area is a recreation of a transfer shed between broad and standard gauges. Standing at the entrance is another replica loco, this being Fire Fly. The original was designed by Daniel Gooch and was built in 1840, it is a 2-2-2 and it worked for 30 years, 62 members of the Fire Fly class were built. This loco was built at Didcot in 2005 and is also out of ticket.
The transfer shed is the original Great Western Railway built shed from the 1850's. It stood at Didcot station and was relocated to this location to created a typical transfer shed. It was given the name Burlescombe as much of the broad gauge bridge rails came from Burlescombe station yard.
The shed has a central island platform with 4' 8 1/2" standard gauge track on one side and 7' 0 1/4" broad gauge track on the other. In this cameo the broad gauge track is dual gauge. The goods would have been manhandled between wagons, a time consuming exercise.
The battle of the gauges was finally lost by the GWR in 1892 when all broad gauge track was regauged to standard. Here is a representation of standard and dual gauge track and associated pointwork, note how the inner standard gauge rail changes sides. The signalling is of broad gauge era with overhead signal operating wires. Everything is operational with the former Frome Mineral Junction signalbox housing a stud locking lever frame from Stoneycombe 'box on Dainton Bank.
Six coupled tank 1340 heads away from Eynsham station with another shuttle run to the end of the line. It is dwarfed by the former GWR coaches.
A classic shot of the line up in front of the loco shed at Didcot with L-R, class 51xx prairie tank 4144, class 61xx prairie tank 6106, 6959 Modified Hall class 4-6-0 6998 "Burton Agnes Hall" and Saint class 4-6-0 replica 2999 "Lady of Legend".
Class 43xx 2-6-0 5322 stands beside the loco shed basking in the warm October sun wearing Railway Operating Department black livery. I'm sure I have a photo of 5322 in this samed spot taken on a previous visit in 1987 or 1988.
Tucked away round the back almost out of sight is 5205 class 2-8-0T 5227 in ex Barry condition. This is a member of the 70 strong class that was a developmend of the 42xx class 2-8-0T. The loco was built in 1924 to haul coal trains from the South Wales pits in the Valleys to the docks for export. It was withdrawn in 1962 and went to Barry Island scrapyard where Didcot bought it arriving in August 2013.
Sadly 5227 will never steam and live again but parts of it will go forward. The axleboxes will go to a project to built 4709, a 2-8-0T of the 47xx class. The boiler is being used in the project to built a County class 4-4-0 loco 3840. The last photo of the day, a great day of glorious weather. Now the drive to Loughborough.
