6880 Betton Grange Finally Rides The Rails

A trip to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway to film Britain's newest standard gauge steam locomotive in action; 6880 'Betton Grange'. Following a few false starts, the 81st member of the GWR Grange Class made its long awaited public debut during the GWSR's 'Cotswold Festival of Steam' event at the end of May. None of the original members of the class survived into preservation, with the last being withdrawn and scrapped in 1965, and so the 6880 Society was formed in 1998, with the intention to construct what would have been the next in line from a further batch of locomotives that had been planned, but later cancelled due to the advent of the Second World War.

Following its successful appearance at the gala, the Grange would be seen out working regular service trains on the GWSR on all their public running days until the middle of June, effectively doubling as further running in, with it still being very much fresh out of the box.

We start the video off in the idyllic surroundings at Hayles Abbey Halt, where 6880 is captured gently accelerating past with the first train of the day away from Toddington to Cheltenham Racecourse, the line's southern terminus. The next shot sees us at Laverton, on the line's northern extension from Toddington to Broadway, where 6880 is seen ambling along in the mid-day sun. We then move south to Greet Road Bridge, overlooking Winchcombe Station, where I slightly lose my gamble on how far forward the train would stop, as 6880 rolls in to a stop just shy of the bridge itself, before getting away in fine style towards Greet Tunnel. Heading back north to the Broadway extension, we catch 6880 putting on a nice bit of power as it passes under Stanton aqueduct. A quick dash back to the other side of of Toddington for a shot of 6880 accelerating away at Didbrook, before another dash to Manor Lane, for a third shot of the same run as it comes off the 10mph restriction through Gotherington Loop. For the final shot, we hop back in time to a few days prior when conditions were much more overcast for what would be my first time capturing a Grange in action. Nevertheless, 6880 does well to brighten the scene, as it puts in a good performance past Didbrook with an early afternoon service from Toddington.

Filmed on Tuesday 29th May & Sunday 2nd June 2024, using a Panasonic HC-X1500 with an Audio-Technica BP4025 microphone.

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00:00 Hayles Abbey Halt
01:30 Laverton
03:04 Winchcombe Station
06:05 Stanton Aqueduct
07:40 Didbrook (West Side)
09:18 Manor Lane
10:54 Didbrook (East Side)