GWR 100th Anniversary this year

Bugger off Gary, everyone knows about God's Wonderful Railway and how He said in 1906 "Let there be a perfect railway", and there was a perfect railway.

Less known, but recently discovered on scrolls (in a cave) by the Dead Sea, was the story of how a certain "bad" ex-angel tried to copy God's work (thinking he was as good as God) and came up with LMS, LNER and Southern as alternatives.
But God saw his work and saw that it was good, so He took the bad angel and cast him out of His house, saying "Sod off you cheeky little bugger, how can you compare all this shit to God's Wonderful Railway?"

And if anyone doesn't agree with me, in the words of the Almighty, they can sod off too.

Have a nice day, Jeff the Evangelist.

Jeff, it might be more tactful to use *s rather than full expleteives. Such as, "mind your b****y language.

60134

I'll tell you what.

You put a Welsh accent to that sermon and it does sound very "How Green Was My Valley".

Very atmosperic and I'm thinking of home right now!

On this one occasion maybe expletives can be forgiven. Anybody who has an ounce of dragons blood inside them can certainly relate to this tale.

Accepting that SR and LNER and LMS fans may not agree!

Happy modelling
Gary

To Mark I would point out that anything as good as the GWR must have had the blessing of the Almighty. Anyway, I don't know about your God, but mine can relate to us mere mortals and has a sense of humour. So no offence there then.

To 60134 I would say, sorry if full expletives offend you, but compared to some of the language you hear today, my post was very mild in that respect. ( I would also point out that although good natured and kind hearted, I'm not known for my impeccable tactfulness).

To BRITHO I would say that your assertions about the GWR only go to show the extent of the jealousy you feel when you compare your local company to the GWR.

To DWB I would say thank you for your gracious comments about the sound training supplied by Swindon Works.

And to anybody daft enough to still be reading this post, I would say thank you all for your forbearance and HAVE A NICE DAY.

Forgive my ignorance but what is better about GWR than any other company?

This is a serious question not a wind up, I'm curious as I have heard other people say this.

QUOTE Forgive my ignorance but what is better about GWR than any other company?

It could be that GWR had a style, class and grandure about it considered to be lacking among the other railway operators. And of course it also had/has the longest history of any of them remaining virtually unchanged when the big 4 grouping was formed in 1923. And even when BR was formed the Western Region was considered to be GWR in all but name and continued along is idiosyncratic ways.

And after all GWR did have to live up to the "Great" within its name not promised by any other operator!

Stations and rolling stock were always kept tidy and smart. Travellers entering the GWR network absolutely knew that they were on the GWR network as the service aspects were moved up a knotch or two.

I am more of a Southern Railways fan however I can understand why GWR fans feel the way they do so lets respect their judgement.

As an aside nobody is yet close to what the actual anniversary is (now there is a surprise! ) and there may be a few kicking themselves when they learn the answer!

Happy modelling
Gary

PS speaking to a fireman the other day who had experiance of firing up both GWR designed and LMS designed locomotives around the Midlands he did say that GWR locos were not well regarded from a firemens point of view as they required more sweat than LMS locos. I suspect coal from Midlands collieries relative to coal from South Wales may not have helped and the firemen did acknowledge that Welsh coal eased the burden slightly when firing up GWR locos however this was not often available in the Midlands.

I would agree with Gary in all that he says about the GWR, except perhaps for his comments about the relative ease of firing the different company locos.

I've heard it said, by ex GWR steam loco men that it took a special technique to fire some of the GWR locos, because of the way the fire pan was designed. Also that they were built with good quality anthracite coal in mind, as this was easily available within the region and by far the most efficient coal mined in the UK. It was also said that the technique used in firing was only taught on the GWR (as it was only appropriate to them) and "foreign" firemen often had trouble when "guesting" on a GWR loco until they learned the differences. I would have thought that this also applied to GWR men "guesting" on other lines.

In answer to Neil, in addition to what Gary has said, you need to look at the GWR safety record, it's reputation for punctuality and it's outstanding reputation for loyalty and teamwork amongst it's workforce. Add to that it's innovation and technical excellence and you can see why it has it's die-hard supporters.

It may therefore surprise you to know that my favourite stretch of line is not something like the Cambrian Coast Line, the mainline through Devon and Cornwall, or even the Paddington to South Wales line, but rather the Settle & Carlisle line. Surely a more impressive route could not have been built in the UK !!

>it also had/has the longest history of any of them remaining virtually unchanged when the big 4 grouping was formed in 1923.

I think you're right. The continuity given by the dominant partner would have made the transition a lot simpler. The LMS probably had the most difficult integration task. There was fierce rivallry between the former LNWR and Midland Railway elements. On the traction side this does not appear to have been resolved until the appointment of a CME from outside, Stanier. This meant his first task was to create whole classes of modern motive power to replace the time expired LNWR and MR locomotives.

Re: Firing a locomotive.
I agree with Gwent rail on this one. There were different firing techniques required to get the best out of the respective engine types. A large part of Gresley's design work was aimed at reducing coal consumption, hence his preference for 3 cylinder locomotives.

>Add to that its innovation
Here I am ignorant of any innovation introduced by the GWR post grouping; perhaps you could inform me? My impression (probably mistaken) was that once the GWR had perfected the 4-6-0 express passenger locomotives little else happened, whereas Gresley was innovating to the last.

David

Good point dooferdog, perhaps sometimes we tend to think, when on the keyboard, that because we are in a forum that mainly is of interest to adult modellers, there are no minors reading our posts.

I have two grandsons of seven and four, both keen to see my "railway room" whenever they visit, so I should really know better. I am very careful never to swear in front of them (even though I suspect the seven year old needs no introduction to swear words)

I therefore have no hesitation in passing on apologies to anyone, like yourself, who might find a full expletive difficult to explain to any youngster. The policy now will be to make sure the smilie is inserted where appropriate. Hope this is an acceptable reply to your problem, obviously no offence was ever intended.

QUOTE It may therefore surprise you to know that my favourite stretch of line is not something like the Cambrian Coast Line, the mainline through Devon and Cornwall, or even the Paddington to South Wales line, but rather the Settle & Carlisle line. Surely a more impressive route could not have been built in the UK !!Ever been to Mallaig?

Thanks for the info on the GWR, sounds good.

Good point about the swearing, I suspect there are younger modellers who look in on this so point taken.