Up to his waist in it – and where better than a drain? Alan Bielby caught doing one of the less glamorous jobs involved in rebuilding Broadway station (photo: courtesy Alan Bielby)  


A lazy moment while the auto train from Cheltenham St James to Honeybourne pauses at Broadway station, during the station’s final year, 1960. The locomotive is 14xx 0-4-2T no. 1424, propelling a single auto-trailer. The train has the right away while a schoolboy eavesdrops the conversation between the guard and loco crew. The new station building on the opposite platform will look similar to the long-demolished original (Photo courtesy Restoration and Archiving Trust)  


Big, bold and beautiful: and the opposite extreme to the 14xx tank locomotive pictured at Broadway station! This is one of South African Railways impressive 3ft. 6in gauge GMAM class Beyer-Garratt 4-8-2+2-8-4s, among Alan Beilby’s favourite locomotives (photo: Alan Bielby)  

The latest to share five minutes with your website is the irrepressible Alan Bielby, who has taken on the project to rebuild Broadway station within five years.  And judging by progress so far, he and his team will indeed have a station waiting for the track eventually to arrive from the south and bring with it the first trains.  Alan, recently returned to the UK after 30 years overseas in the electricity generating industry, is adding Broadway station to his impressive list of projects - which included a coal-fired power station in India!  The Broadway project has its own website ­here and Alan would welcome anyone who fancies playing a part in seeing Broadway station rise phoenix-like from the ruined foundations of the original.  Just turn up on any Saturday at Broadway station site!

My railway business card, if I had one, would say: …
This is a difficult one as I need a three sided card. In common with many volunteers I wear a number of hats. I report to the GWRL as Chairman of the Broadway Area Group. They provide the volunteer support to my other role as Development Manager for the Broadway Station reconstruction for which I report to the GWR Ltd. I also have an Admin role which, next year is likely include 'Co-ordinator of Gala Functions' if I succumb to those requests for further input!

I first got interested in railways because:
of my father plus an interest in all things mechanical.

A typical run-down of what I do for the railway is:
Lead a team to rebuild Broadway Station and its support services and also help on the Admin side of the Railway at Toddington - I joined the latter so that I can meet people and learn more of the history of the restoration work over the last 25 years. As a newcomer I come in with a 'blank piece of paper' so have no pre-conceived ideas of what should and should not be done with the Railway.

I was prompted to get involved with the Honeybourne Line by what or who - and when:
I came back to this country after living abroad for over 30 years with the specific intention of becoming involved with a Heritage Railway, preferably GWR and preferably still expanding.

The thing I like most about our railway is:
It is all volunteer run and they succeed in achieving a very professional and friendly presentation to our visitors

And the thing I like least:
It deserves a more structured packaging to give our visitors more to see and, hopefully, more reason to stay longer and so contribute more to the Railway funds. I know that various steps are being taken to improve this but I feel that the inherent skills of our volunteers are possibly not being used to their best advantage.   

I think the greatest achievement of our railway is: 
Achieving what it has done over the last 25 years while still retaining its friendly all volunteer status

My 'real job' is, or was:
Project Management and then Operations Manager of the Transmission System of the main power company in Hong Kong. This involved an extensive 400kV and 132kV network in Hong Kong and a 500kV system in China. I later worked on projects in India and Australia. If you think that rebuilding Broadway Station is a large project, try a coal fired power station in the middle of India!

I always read (newspapers and/or magazines):
Whatever catches my eye

The headline I would most like to see in the newspapers about our railway is:
'Broadway Station re-opens'

My favourite railway company / operator is:
This is a difficult one as I like them all - having chased steam in many countries I appreciated what they were able to achieve within the operating environment that they faced. I admit to a sneaking preference to GWR but see below.

My favourite locomotive class is:
Large Beyer-Garratts - the ones that I saw in South Africa in 1978 were magnificent and I regret never seeing the LMS ones.  Of the GWR classes, I would like to see a Grange running again - they had a great reputation and it is a pity that none were saved.

If I was lucky enough, I would invest a £1 million windfall on: 
Make it £10m and  I might have some ideas!

If I wasn't involved with the Honeybourne Line I would probably:
Build an 'O' gauge model of a GWR branch line - actually I will anyway!

In other spare time I also enjoy:
Building models, collecting old railway photos and using them to support our Broadway design work, catching up on what has been achieved on the restoration front over the last 30 years.

My greatest achievement is: 
Ask me in 5 years time (Broadway Station target rebuild time is 5 years!)

My biggest regret is:
Not being able to access those parallel universes that would have allowed me to be in more than one place at a time; so I had to leave a tropical paradise and come here to 'play trains'.

This is what my family thinks about my involvement with the Railway:
'When are you coming home for lunch?'

In 10 years time I think the railway: 
Will have gone through an upgrade of its professional objectives as a successful heritage railway. This will be at the expense of some traditional ideas but will ensure its on-going success.

No-one knows this about me, but:
This could be the subject of a bidding game, the highest bidder will learn this closely guarded secret!! All proceeds to Broadway funds.