NOT “Fun with Southern Steam”
The 15th December meeting had an attendance of 16 despite fore knowledge that the visiting speaker was unwell, and with the awful pavement conditions across Cheltenham. Stephen Wilson produced a show of railway infrastructure scenes around the country that highlighted both the grandeur and simplicity of what had been constructed during the past 150 or so years. Station scenes, viaducts that add to the countryside scene and signal boxes proved the point. Scenes from across Gloucestershire and Worcestershire from the likes of Moreton in Marsh, Worcester Shrub Hill and of the Tidenham tunnel added further to the interest. Richard Morris covered the preservation scene mainly of lines once of the Great Western and especially of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway with which he is closely involved. In doing so he recounted how such a railway is run especially at Gala Weekends. The recent visit of the two Deltic locomotives 55009/19 to Toddington for the Deltic Preservation Society’s 40th Anniversary contrasted with a Somerset & Dorset themed event when the large BR Standard Cl.9F 92203 was seen next to the little Sentinel 4wVB 47109. One striking shot caught the eye with Merchant Navy 35006 literally having the hiccups when some Eastern European coal was being used resulting in a remarkable smoke effect.