Cotswold Wagon Restorations

16/03/2026

This is what it's all about - A proper Great Western goods engine on a Great Western goods train! A very satisfying day for the team, even if the weather didn't quite play ball, still some reasonable results. Thanks to 30742 Charters for organising the charter, and everyone who came along or crewed it!

08/03/2026

Time for an update! Two wagons have seen major attention this period; at Winchcombe GWR Mink D 28833 continues its major rebuild, while at Toddington BR Vanfit 755964 is having a repaint from green into BR bauxite. Plenty more info in the photo captions as ever.

07/12/2025

Time for another update, we have been far from idle at Winchcombe since the Mica B and Open C joined the running fleet. The next project chosen is Mink D 28833, which ran up until about 2017 but was looking distinctly tired. Built in 1911 and a bit of a rarity for still being more or less complete and in 1930s condition. Importantly vacuum-braked too to maintain our 50% ratio of fitted vehicles in the running set. Initially it was hoped for fairly minimal timber replacement, but it didn't quite work out like that, See the photo captions for more!

12/09/2025

It's been another busy couple of months for wagons on the GWSR. GWR Open C 99879 and Mica B 79636 both finally emerged from the workshops into the sunlight looking superb after lots of hard work by the team. At Toddington the end is in sight with GWR water tank 106, and a few other bits and pieces progressing too. More detail as ever in the photo captions.

01/06/2025

Another busy couple of months, focus mainly at Winchcombe on the two major projects there as both the Mica B and Open C begin to really come together. More details in individual photo captions.

13/05/2025

Just a reminder to all our followers that the Cotswold Festival of Steam here at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is just around the corner over the bank holiday weekend. That means our train of heritage goods wagons is back in action over the three day event!

Tickets for brake van rides are available in advance via the website or on the day on a first come first served basis. We may be biased but we think it's the best way to travel at the event 😉 Full details at GWSR Cotswold Festival of Steam Gala Page and GWSR.com

With less than two weeks to go until our biggest event of the year, there are just two footplate rides still available during the steam gala. Brake van rides are still available to pre-book - it's cash only on the day from the brake van, and spaces are limited on a first come first served basis, so well worth guaranteeing your spot now at
gwsr.vticket.co.uk/section.php/290/1/cotswold-festival-of-steam

24/03/2025

Another well overdue update on all things wagon on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, more detail in the captions as usual, featuring progress on our Open C, Mica B, water tank and Open A plus a couple of extras

22/12/2024

Odds and sods! To finish our catch up for the last few months or so, various activities mostly at Toddington and a couple of pics of the set out and about during the Autumn Showcase. More detail in the captions.

10/12/2024

The other main project at Winchcombe at the moment is the Open C. This was grit-blasted a couple of months ago and is now looking much better, with a new curbrail, new corner plates, brake gear all cleaned up and ready to go back, and the frame well on the way to being top-coated. We will be fitting a through pipe to this to enable us to run it in our goods train. Work mostly ongoing outside at the moment as there isn't space in the works, but we have been lucky with the weather. The less good news is that the buffers are seized so they'll have to come off and dismantled, and the journals on one of the wheelsets are very poor and will need sending away for a tidy up on a wheel lathe.

08/12/2024

Been a while since we've updated these pages properly! Happily this doesn't reflect activity on the ground, just that your main scribe has started a new job amongst other things. Anyway, as there's quite a bit to catch up on, rather than do it all at once, we'll spit things up a bit, this post giving an update on the Mica and a visit to our friends at Didcot to compare notes. More detail in individual photo captions.

31/10/2024

What the group was always all about...

Perfect conditions, perfect loco accompanied by matched goods stock - what a better way to spend a Saturday morning?

GWR Goods Engine 3850 heads past Didbrook on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway

Taken on Saturday 26th October 2024 during the GWSR's Autumn Gala.

Cotswold Wagon Restorations