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  GLOUCESTER RCW'S NARROW GAUGE COACHES FOR WEMBLEY  
 

 

  
 

Happily unaffected by the civil engineering woes of the "big railway" at Toddington though was the North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway which in February 2011 acquired a 2' gauge carriage body from Teddington Fields, adjacent to the A46 from Tewkesbury to Teddington Hands which links Toddington to Junction 9 of the M5 motorway. When first seen by NGNGR members in 2008, the carriage body still retained a small Gloucester RCW worksplate inside the saloon.

 
 

 

  
 

 

Unfortunately the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway took a step backwards in 2010 with part of its embankment near Gotherington giving way and leaving the track suspended in mid air.

However, an Emergency Appeal was launched by GWSR Honorary President Pete Waterman and donations can still be made online. 2011 meanwhile has seen the GWSR operate as two railways: one offering rides aboard GRCW Class 122 railcar W55003 and Class 117 DMUs between Toddington and Laverton, north of Stanway Viaduct, and the other with steam from Winchcombe to Cheltenham Race Course.

Happily unaffected by the civil engineering woes of the "big railway" at Toddington though was the North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway which in February 2011 acquired a 2' gauge carriage body from Teddington Fields, adjacent to the A46 from Tewkesbury to Teddington Hands which links Toddington to Junction 9 of the M5 motorway. When first seen by NGNGR members in 2008, the carriage body still retained a small Gloucester RCW worksplate inside the saloon.

Research shows it was one of 18 carriage bodies constructed by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company Limited in 1924 for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, which ran from 1924 to 1925 and whose closing ceremony was featured in the feature film "The King's Speech" starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush. 

Although perhaps best remembered for the screw driven "Never Stop Railway" - an early form of travelator - a number of light railways served the British Empire Exhibition which was the largest such exhibition ever staged and was marked by Britain's first ever commemorative stamps.  The legacy of the British Empire Exhibition also included the Empire Pool - nowadays the Wembley Arena - and the Empire Stadium, later Wembley Stadium and still the home of English football since its rebuild after demolition of the original structure in 2002.

In transport terms, the 1924 "Wembley Lion" inspired the original "Lion on a Bike" British Railways logo used from 1948 to 1956 and the exhibition featured such then-new locomotives as the GWR's 4079 "Pendennis Castle", LNER 4472 "Flying Scotsman", Southern Railway N Class 866 and an LNWR "Prince of Wales" Class 4-6-0 built by William Beardmore of Scotland and later sold to the London Midland & Scottish Railway.  The Metropolitan Railway also displayed a 1923 vintage Inner Circle driving trailer in 1924 and in 1925 electric locomotive 15, later to be named "Wembley 1924"

From 9 May to 1 June 1925 the Royal Air Force's 32 Squadron flew an air display six nights a week entitled "London Defended".  Similar to the display presented the previous year with black aeroplanes, it featured red painted Sopwith Snipes fitted with white lights on the wings tail and fuselage. The display involved firing blank ammunition into the stadium crowds and dropping pyrotechnics from the aeroplanes to simulate shrapnel from guns on the ground, Explosions on the ground also produced the effect of bombs being dropped into the stadium by the biplanes. One of the Pilots in the display was Flying officer CWA Scott  who later became famous for breaking three England Australia solo flight records and winning the MacRobertson Air Race with co-pilot Tom Campbell Black in 1934.

The wooden chassis of the carriage from Teddington Hands appears to be from a War Department bogie wagon, which Gloucester RCW built in considerable numbers during 1914-1918, although the original bogies have long since disappeared. Board minutes indicate that the Bristol Road, Gloucester, based company retained ownership of the narrow gauge Wembley carriages and wrote off the cost as advertising.

It is not yet know how GRCW's Wembley carriage bodies were disposed of - possibly by auction as one ended up in Lincolnshire on a horse drawn narrow gauge potato railway - but the new NGNGR acquisition was apparently on a farm near Longdon, Worcestershire, by the early 1930s before being moved to Teddington Fields.

Considering how long the body has been outdoors it is in remarkable condition, and the pictures above and below show it " as received" at Toddington and then with non-original material stripped away.

Although a works photograph of this carriage order has been found in the Gloucester RCW archives in Alvin Street, Gloucester, there are no drawings despite one being listed in the Register of Drawings. However, if you have any data which would help the restoration of this historic vehicle please email me.

 

 

 

 

The wooden chassis of the carriage from Teddington Hands appears to be from a War Department bogie wagon, which Gloucester RCW built in considerable numbers during 1914-1918, although the original bogies have long since disappeared. Board minutes indicate that the Bristol Road, Gloucester, based company retained ownership of the narrow gauge Wembley carriages and wrote off the cost as advertising.