27th July – Visiting the Dean Forest Railway

 27th July – Visiting the Dean Forest Railway

When this tour popped up on the UK Railtours website I was interested as I was meant to visit the Dean Forest Railway back in 2018 on a Charity Railtour which got postponed (and finally cancelled).  As a bonus it started at Basingstoke which meant I didn’t have to fork out for accommodation and travel costs were low.  

The day for me began with the 05:59 service from Grateley to Basingstoke with 159105 & 158886 arriving around half six giving me just over an hour to grab some supplies for the day ahead, but first I had a gentle stroll towards the Gresley Road passing the Network Rail signalling centre and doing a small loop coming back via Eastrop Park.  After a visit to the supermarket, I returned to the station to find out that the charter was running around 15 minutes late due to a problem at Eastleigh depot.

Eastrop Park, Basingstoke

Eventually 33012 rolled in with the London Transport 4TC set as I located my seat in the rear coach as the service departed doing a little weave to get ahead of a stopper from Basingstoke but due to being out of path it kept on losing time.  Another pick up was made at Woking before the 33 continued towards London, losing an extra 10 minutes outside Wimbledon to wait for a Thameslink service to clear platform 9 and to get a clear path to pass platform 9 for a little crawl via South London going via Tooting, Herne Hill & Wandsworth Road to reach Clapham Junction where it arrived just as a stopper to Reading departed.

The train did fill up at Clapham with 2 others joining me at my table for a crawl towards Reading, as the charter soon caught up with that SWR service.  I noticed Staines has new signs promoting a bus link to Heathrow Airport & Thorpe Park.  Anyhow back to the crawl as the train eventually reached the outskirts of Reading taking the connection towards platform 8 for a brief pause for staff before setting off using the festival chord to join the relief lines where it finally got some speed up only to loss time outside Didcot Parkway as a Didcot terminator got put ahead of the charter with the charter having to wait for it to depart back towards London.

33012 arriving at Basingstoke

This extra delay meant the train was near enough an hour late for the final pick up at Didcot before having a fast run towards Swindon and onto the Golden Valley line (I will admit to having a little doze due to the warmth within the carriage as the 4TC set isn’t the nicest on a warm day with the restricted opening windows).  Anyhow the train continued making up time due to missing out on a loop and a faster crew change at Gloucester before continuing towards Lydney, crossing over into the goods loop and after a short delay headed onto the connection to the Dean Forest Railway towards Lydney Junction station.

The train continued along the track of the Dean Forest Railway (formally the Severn and Wye Railway) passing at Norchard before running to the end of the line at Parkend (where I believe beyond is a mixed used path on cycle route 42 towards Cinderford which has gone onto my list).  Anyhow at Parkend after a photo of the loco I decided on a late notice walk along the road towards Whitecroft, picking up a slightly overgrown footpath along the way which followed the railway, allowing me a chance to photograph the 33 as it passed the station heading to Norchard where it would shunt to the low level platform for servicing.

33012 passing Whitecroft Station

The steam train out today was the GWR 4575 Class, number 5541 with a collection of coaches of both Mk1 & Mk2.  I grabbed a seat for the run towards Lydney Junction where I popped out of the station with the hope of making it to Lydney station for some photos but got distracted with the steam engine running round the coaches and didn’t make it to the national rail station (as I didn’t want to risk getting locked out of the station due to the barrow crossing).  I took a seat for the short run to Lydney Town station, having a gentle stroll towards a Tesco for supplies for dinner before following a footpath which crossed the railway near Middle Forge Junction where the line splits for Norchard (which is a station which is split over two levels).

GWR 4575 Class 5541 running round the train at Lydney Junction Station

I reached the road and walked the short distance to Norchard station, grabbing some photos and getting surprised as the person whom had the seat next to me had popped up.  Anyhow the train departed the low-level platform heading towards Lydney Junction for a brief pause before joining the network rail line in the goods loop.  The way back was similar to the outward but a bit slower with pauses outside Swindon (with a short pause on the platform), the Wantage Road loop & the Reading depot loop before the tour headed towards Reading West and via Bramley to reach Basingstoke where winner 66793 (one of the European imports) attached to the rear to haul the train towards London.  Would have been foolish to turn down a winning 66 so I remained on board to Woking to get it into my book, a short wait before 159017 & 159020 rolled in on a semifast service to take me to Andover where I had a thirty-minute fester before 159011 arrived on the next stopper to take me up the hill to Grateley where I had a gentle walk home.

The Sunday was spent at home doing work in the garden so for me, travels wise July was over.  Scary to think it’s August, where my plans only so far have one Railtour on the 10th August (the Intercity Loco Hauled trip in the North West) with only ideas for walking based on the weather for the rest of the month.  August is a time when accommodation does get more expensive due to school holidays with no annual leave for this year due to starting training on the 12th August (one reason why I did the morning walk in Basingstoke was to get my bearings).  More photos from today can be found on my Flickr, but for now I will leave you with the 66 at Woking.

66793 at Woking Station