Given it rained off and on while we were in the Cotswolds, we decided to go on a steam train ride from Broadway Station to Cheltenham Race Course on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway GWSR, which is a twenty-eight-mile round trip across the Cotswolds.
(I did upload this video to 3speak, but something must have gone wrong? Youtube to the rescue.)It's your classic steam railway, staffed entirely with volunteers who not only like to dress for the part but run it as a bona fide train service. The adult fare is £28.00 each, and we had to pay £5.00 for Charlie, our dog. Yes, it's a tad expensive, but then so is running steam trains.
I'd already read the rules for taking dogs on their trains, and obviously, I get it, but I did feel a bit peeved when the ticket guy handed me a slip of paper with the rules printed out.
A maximum of 2 dogs can accompany any single group of people.
Dogs to be kept on a lead (preferably a short lead) at all times whilst on railway premises or trains.
Dogs are not allowed in carpeted areas on the trains, and especially not in first class or in our restaurant or buffet cars.
Dogs are only allowed on the floor and not on seats, tables or laps – even if you have a rug.
For safety reasons, please don’t allow your dog to block walkways.
There may be additional restrictions in place at certain of our special events - please see the relevant page on the website.
There was a funny incident on the platform prior to boarding. An elderly couple approached the porter all done up in his 1940s attire.
Woman:"Excuse me, which carriage can we get on, please?"
Porter:"Any carriage you like my dear."
Woman:"Oh, thank you."
Porter:"But you can't go in first class! You have a dog!"
Bwahahaha, so much for anywhere you like.
As if all that wasn't enough, they even had a carriage come dog patrol.
One of the staff constantly walked up and down the carriage, peering down to see where your dog was. Charlie was most put out that he couldn't look out the window, so he promptly took up residence under the seat.
I kept telling the missus "Ooh, we're going over a viaduct!" She wasn't impressed; in fact, she didn't know what one was. I explained it's like a long bridge that spans a valley or a river. We went over the viaduct. I wasn't impressed! "Next up is The Great Tunnel! Now that's got to be impressive? I hope it's long enough that they have to turn the lights on."
They did, it was, the missus wasn't impressed.
At Winchcombe station, we saw a bunch of school kids on the opposite platform. One of Porter's explained it was something they do for the local school each year. They reenact the WWII evacuation of children to the countryside so as to give them an idea of what it must have been like. Part of the experience involves the children having to find the German spy on the train, while the teacher must catch him. It sounded like lots of fun!
As we pulled into Gotherington station, there was another train on the track next to us. It looked like everyone was stuffing their faces.
Gaurd:"I wish I was on that train."
Me:"Why's that then?"
Guard:"They've all got bacon sandwiches, the buffet car is open on that train, and the buffet is closed on our train."
Aaaaarrrggghhh 🥓🥓🥓
There's nothing at Cheltenham Station, the end of the line, apart from the racecourse. There is a hut selling refreshments, which was doing a sterling trade, given that pretty much everyone was waiting for the thirty-minute turnaround for the ride back. Sadly, as generally happens in these sorts of situations, the missus, having waited her turn for a considerable length of time, had to protect her place as a woman tried to barge in. Just the sort of thing you want on a day out. There's always one isn't there.
The journey back was pretty much the same, only in reverse. I know the wife thoroughly enjoyed it because she fell asleep! I do have a photo but it probably wouldn't be right to post it here. 😈
We collected the car and drove up into Broadway village, which turned out to be our favourite place. Sadly, it was raining and not really the weather for walking around, so we drove back to the cottage with plans to come back the next day.
[More to come]
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