Great Cockcrow Railway
News…
Operational
Dates for 2008
These are not yet officially published. We aim to restart
public operation on Sunday 27th April and every Sunday thereafter
until the end of October. Other special operating dates including charity
days and Wednesdays in August are yet to be decided.
Winter
2007 – 2008
Permanent Way News
Work continues to improve and replace worn out ex-Greywood
Central rail along the Jungle line. We hope to have this complete except for
ballasting by mid January . Work will then concentrate on the platform roads
in Everglades and Cockcrow Hill .
Locomotives
Western Region 6959 Modified Hall “Mere Hall” is almost ready to leave the
workshops after a very extensive overhaul . This has included a repaint and
some improvements to the front end. Entering the workshop has been LMS Class
5 “Black Five” number 5000 “Sister Dora” for some re-bushing. Southern Railway Lord Nelson remains in
the workshop having a new ball valve regular and front end fittings replaced
and improved . The “Hymek” battery electric has been striped down for a major
overhaul. The power bogies are well worn and need extensive work. Southern
S15 class number 837 has left the workshop after having some boiler work
done. Great Northern large boilered Atlantic is in the shops for frame
strengthening. It is unlikely we will
see NER T2 class “Hecate” in steam for a while. This engine may require a
number of boiler stays to be replaced.
New Station Building
The long awaited construction of the new Hardwick station
building is not going to start this winter. Further details on this project
will be published later.
Spinney Light Railway
Some of the GCR members also help at the nearby Spinney
Light Railway . Their new web site is
http://spinneylightrailway.co.uk
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Old Greywood member.
This web site recently came to light. It shows a wonderful
picture of “Mere Hall” on the Grey wood Railway
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/34091/Realistic-Railways/Introduction.htm
Halloween Night Pixs are now published at :
http://www.photoeyes.biz/events/GCR/Halloween2007/gallery.htm
Operating Dates
The last day of operations in 2007 will be Sunday 28th
October. We will be operating a very limited service. The first operating day for 2008 will be
Sunday 27th April.
Halloween
Night
Our ever popular Halloween running night is Saturday 27th
October. Trains run from 5pm until
the last passenger has gone home! (normally by 8pm). If the weather is foul
the event will be cancelled or rescheduled to the following Saturday night.
Normal Loseley catering services will be available.
UPDATE : Photos of the Halloween event will be available
later.
Sunday 8th
October
The GCR is now operating a near normal service. However
trains are not stopping at Cockcrow Hill. Due to the threat of Foot and Mouth
Disease Bio-measures are still in place.
Sunday
30th September
The GCR will operate a limited service on Sunday 30th
September . Cockcrow Hill is still out of bounds. Therefore the railway will
be operating one route only.
IMPORTANT
– FOOT AND MOUTH OUTBREAK
The GCR will be CLOSED on Sunday 23rd September.
The
2007 Gala Weekend
Saturday and Sunday the 8th and 9th
September turned out to be a very success gala weekend. A number of engines
were invited from other railways. Saturday was a non-public day and was
reserved for our guests to use the railway at their leisure under our
supervision. Of note this year was the very popular “Blue Pullman” from
Mardyke . Some of the visitors teamed
up with resident locomotives on the Sunday to give the public a real treat
with most train double headed. Follow the link below to see some pictures : http://greatcockcrowrailway.photosnaps.org.uk/c1367161.html
South
West Trains Staff Day
On the 25th of August the railway played host to the South
West Trains Family Fun Day, We were warned of a big crowd of people, but with
13 Steam engines out (we have 14 operational at the moment), the queue was
kept down and the break times for drivers between trips was increased. Things
ran well, with very few problems on both the signalling and motive power side
of things. We ran a fixed standard route for most of the day. Running 131
Passenger Trains we carried 1138 passengers, This was lower than expected but
still a good day was had by all.
For the event, South West Trains sponsored the railway to
build three coaches. These are painted in South West Trains Livery and can be
seen running in regular service on most running days!
Overall, The day was a success with the Managing Director
of South West Trains getting his hands on the controls of the one of the GCR
engines.
REMINDER
As well as the usual Sunday afternoons , the GCR is also
open Wednesday in August between 12 and 4pm.
The GCR gala public running event is Sunday 9th
September.
NEW DVD !!!
MVP Video
have done a really excellent job at producing one of the finest DVD’s of the GCR
yet. The video is available from the booking office . The DVD also contains
some early footage of the Greywood Central Railway. If you want to purchase
one and can not get to the railway , contact the web master.
Ex-GCR Locos
Another new web page : Ex locos of the GCR . See
page : gcrexlocos.htm . Please email the
webmaster if you would like to update historical facts etc or have pixs of
another locos.
Podcast
Last year Tim Mitchen of Redrock Media kindly did a short
GCR podcast. It is now available from this web site Just click on this link :
Redrok - Cockcrow.mp3
For more info on Red Rock please follow this link www.redrok-media.com .
New Web Page
We now have a GCR frequently asked questions page. Just
follow the link … GCRFAQs
Congratulations!
Last Sunday Chris Piasecki and Stephen Trower both
qualified as steam drivers. Well done lads.
LIGHTBOX
Photos of the
Lightbox charity day can be found at http://www.hobbyman.co.uk/cockcrow/lightbox2007/pics.htm
EXTRA
OPERATIONAL DAYS FOR 2007
We have two “charity days” in 2007…
Saturday June 2 – ‘Lightbox’ museum and gallery, Woking. Railway open between 12.00
to 16.00 or later if necessary.
Saturday June 23 – Shooting Star
children’s hospice charity. Railway
open between 12.00 to 16.00.
Little Wet Train
The Cockcrow’s Greenly Mogul “River Itchen” helped our friends from the Little Red
Train www.littleredtrain.co.uk
at the Ottershaw May Fayre last Bank Holiday Monday. Sadly the rain came down and spoilt the
day a little.
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Mind those bollards ! Stephen T departs a rainy
Ottershaw Central with a non-stop shuttle to the other end of the football
pitch.
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An interesting story about
bridge building
You can read about our bridge building exploits from this
link : SnowyDays
Charity Day
A
Charity fund raising day is planned at the GCR on 2nd June. More details to
follow.
Operating Dates for 2007
The railway will be open every Sunday afternoon from
Sunday April 29th April until the last Sunday in October.
We also run the railway Wednesday afternoons in August.
Gala Day is Sunday September 9th
Further special days and charity events will be published
later.
March 2007. Almost done…
Track and check rail complete. The photo shows the diesel shunter propelling
ballast wagons over the viaduct for the first time.
The extra wide sleepers will have steel sheet attached to
the top.
Phillips Bridge and the new Viaduct
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Phillips Bridge waiting for the up and down main to be
replaced.
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The Viaduct
looking towards Everglades.
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More construction pictures at http://greatcockcrowrailway.photosnaps.org.uk/c1219287_1.html
A
Bridge Too Far ?
Well No! The new all galvanised steel Phillips Bridge and
Viaduct are now in place and waiting for track. Before and after photos will
follow later. An amazing achievement
. Well done lads!
See the GCR
from Space!
Click on this link and zoom down to see a train on the
millennium loop!
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=51.384439~-0.520597&style=a&lvl
Old 2006 news
Old 2005 news
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