Gertrude

Hot on the heels of the succesful visit of the Darjeeling locomotive, the Launceston Steam Railway will be hosting another visiting locomotive for the October half-term week… Read More »

Gertrude attended the first ever steam gala at the North Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway at Toddington on the 19th & 20th September.

Gertrude with a freight train at Toddington

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On Tuesday 8th Sept whilst on route to Toddington for the GWR NG gala, Gertrude stopped for a photo opportunity at the site of Sydenham quarry, near Adderbury, for which she was built (now an industrial estate) the first visit since 1925.  The event was covered by the local newspaper – the Banbury Guardian – hopefully some more details of her work there and possibly a photograph or two might emerge from this brief visit. Also at Sydenham were representatives from the Adderbury Local History Group and Bloxham Museum, near Banbury. Read More »

This weekend went really well again at Leighton Buzzard. Gertrude was in steam both days over the steam up weekend and worked solo and also with Doll on some trains. Max Sinclair and his son visited on the Saturday. Max was originally bought The Doll and Gertrude for £2.00 each and was responsible for saving both them and also Peter Pan from the scrapman. More members of the Westmacott family also visited over the weekend and had the opportunity to see Gertrude in action. Read More »

Over the bank holiday weekend, Gertrude was successfully launched in public and worked together with sister locomotive Doll on several trains for the length of the line on the Leighton Buzzard Railway. Following some final finishing touches and tests after arrival on the Friday and Saturday, the locomotive then excelled itself in it’s first weekend in service.

On Saturday we were joined by Peter Westmacott along with his daughter Sarah. Sarah joined Gertrude on the footplate for its first train on the Saturday when it did a special return trip to Leedon Loop and back. Read More »