Mid Hants Railway - End of Southern Steam Gala 1-2, 8-9 July 2017

According the Railway Magazine, Colin Chambers has a "outline agreement" for 3 rebuilt Bulleid 4-6-2s and has a desire for an original Bulleid Pacific for the MHR's End of Southern Steam Gala, being held on the 1st, 2nd, 8th and 9th July 2017.

35006 'Peninsular & Oriental S.N.Co.' from the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway
34046 'Braunton' (possibly running as 34052 'Lord Dowding')
EITHER 34027 'Taw Valley' or 34053 'Sir Keith Park' from the Severn Valley Railway*

76017, 41312 and 45379 are due to be the resident fleet working at the gala, though no mention of 30925 or 30506 in the article.

There's also a brief mention of a 4MT tank potentially being sought after, if there are 'sufficient reserves' left.

James

 

Is City of wells not going to be availible ? are any other railways looking at running end of Southern galas in the south, if so could transport costs be shared, for instance if the same locos were going to Swanage or the Bluebell, Then might it be cost effective to use say Braunton to tow the others in light steam over NR metals from railway to railway ?

 

This sounds like another terrific line up from the Mid Hants.
I don't want to be greedy, but it would be great to see City of Wells down South next year, even if not at the MHR! It's a gorgeous locomotive which I'm sure would enjoy a holiday on or near to its old stomping ground.

 

There's a new lineup in the latest Steam Railway...

35006 will be joined by 34046 (as 34052) and 34053 'Sir Keith Park', with a provisional agreement in place to bring in 34081 '92 Squadron'.

No mention, as per the August issue, of bringing in the Standard 4 tank, however.

James

 

So, we plan on visiting MHR on Sunday 9th July. After travelling on http://www.railwaytouring.net/uk-day-trips/the-end-of-southern-steam on the 8th with Braunton. Except Braunton is at The Mid Hants. Who is telling porkies?

 

34046 does the rail tour whilst 34052 visits the Mid Hants. Part of the winter maintenance includes a touch of cloning?
Or maybe J K Rowling has lent Icons of Steam a time turner?

 

Time will tell.
Whatever transpires I am sure early July will be a wonderful time on the main line, the Mid Hants and elsewhere. As one who remembers 1967 I never thought I would see what's happening today.

 

I noticed this double-booking a little while ago.
My Dad and I were tempted to go on the RTC trip with 34046 when it was announced as we have some credit with RTC from a previous trip we couldn't go on.
However, when I checked the 8th July trip page over Christmas on the RTC site 34046 had been removed from the tour. On seeing this we decided not to bother as there are not any alternative SR loco's available to work the trip (35018 is provisonally rostered for the four day SD excursion and 35028 is required for the 9th July UK Railtours run).
Interestingly 34046 has now been reinstated on the RTC website for 8th July and is also listed on the UKSteam site as operating the RTC SR Anniversary trip.

I wonder if 34046 is only attending the first weekend of the MHR Summer Gala and is allocated for ML use for the second weekend? She may also be a standby for 35028.

 

The latest newsletter from the Bluebell Railway states that City of Wells will be visiting there sometime during the summer, so what's the chances that it'll be able to attend this event as well?

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/...ilway.html?soid=1108082818574&aid=OGOBzivfC8E

 

As bluebell event is 8 July weekend it cannot be in both places at the same time.Suppose it could do first weekend and move on.

 

Mid Hants End of SR Steam Event page now updated with visiting locomotives and ticket prices:

Visiting Bulleid line up:
34052 - Lord Dowding
34053 - ‘Sir Keith Park’
34081 - 92 Squadron
35006 - Peninsular & Oriental S.N. Co.

Fares:
Pay for 3 days and get 5 days with a multi-day pass!
Adult multi-day pass (all 5 days) £75
Child multi-day pass (all 5 days) £39
Adult day pass £25
Child day pass (aged 2-16 yrs) £13
Family day pass (2 Adults and 2 Children) £63
Advance tickets include all booking fees and tickets cost the same on the day.

34052 still seems to be double booked by the MHR and the RTC.

 

Pricing for the gala seems to be a good deal considering the mileage you can archive over five days.

 

So I think I am right in saying both 34081 and 35006 are only due to visit the MHR gala this year; with both being newly back from overhaul is a real win for the MHR! Cant wait for these two weekends in July!

 

34081 is booked for the Severn Valley's Gala in March.

 

34081 is already booked for the SVR Gala so the MHR will not be her only trip away from home base this year. This will be 34081's second visit to the MHR as she was there for a short visit back in 2003.

 

I thought 34081 was doing the Swanage gala, SVR gala, Mid Hants gala and also the GCR in October? I know that 35006 have said they will only do one trip away from GWSR per year but I also heard that was going somewhere else later in the year. So I never know whats true now?!?

 

If I remember rightly it was a failure for the gala. Seem to recall 80104 shunting it around along with 34016 which was minus it's tender.

 

She ran the previous weekend faultlessly but come the Sunday morning of the Gala she had developed some stay leaks so was failed at that point. Not sure if the Gala was a three day event back then but Saturday visitors got their malachite fix even if the Sunday ones didn't.

 

That's the rumour board for you. I was told last week that we're off to Llangollen as well with 34081. Amazing how some people think they know more about a loco's plans than the actual owners.
So far just SVR and MHR visits are booked for 34081.