GCR Winter Gala. 27-29 January 2023

A bit of a Southern theme to the visitors....
https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/special-events/winter-steam-gala/

 

Two fantastic visitors.

 

i will have to leave booking for this till 2 weeks prior to event to make sure no rail strikes, annoying but what else can you do when reliant on train services to get there, especially EMR

 

As always, I am really looking forward to this. The guest engines are great but for me one of the highlights of this gala is always the class 2's. Small engines that at the GCR always entertain and seem to punch above their weight.

 

Isn't this just the same event as last years?
An SR engine, BR standard + everything else?
[Minus 6990 ].

I will be attending though, two standard 5's outside the SR sounds more appealing.

 

This will only he my 3rd GCR gala. Do they still run the TPO?

 

The TPO hasn't been used for a few years now - Plus you still have those two severe speed restrictions over the bridges either side of Quorn station which aren't being replaced until March 2023 which would preclude it reaching operating speed anyway........

 

You may be surprised as to how slow you can go and still get the TPO apparatus to work properly.

 

Hardly the same is it?

S15 guest over a Bulleid, Standard 5 over a Standard 4 tank plus you've gained 78019 instead of 46521. Don't forget a lot of railways in January are in shut down season so do their maintenance on their fleet of engines so your 'dream' gala list is not always going to be possible in the very early part of the year....

 

This year's line up is a step up from last year's. If your gonna compare. Bulleids and 4MT tanks are great but easily get boring after a while. Just ignore the temporarily withdrawn Hall.

 

Well, yes, little details are different.
But in essence it's sort of the same, still a Southern theme with two visitors from that region, 2x class 2 moguls, 9F, 8F and Std 5.

 

It is also the first major event in the year of the 50th Anniversary of the GCR preservation running. I expect they will be having several special additions to events during the year in one form or another.

 

I’m sure if you send them a cheque, those in Leicestershire would be happy to accommodate your needs…

 

Bulleids boring?? Never!!!

 

I'm not complaining about it.
It's just an observation, that's all.

Well yes, I will be there.
Please feel free to talk to me, as long as it isn't going to be X against 1.

 

Don't go then....!

Can we all be reminded of the absolutely awful year of 2020 when we had very little in the way of Galas or even any steam running. I think we should be thankful on whatever a railway can bring in... in the GCR's case two engines that have never even visited before.... a rare chance of two Standard 5's running together and unless I'm wrong the first appearance of an S15 at the line?

 

To me if I keep seeing them over and over they are. But they are also a personal favourite of mine to some degree.

 

You don’t know how lucky you are to be “bored” by Bulleids. If it wasn’t for the miracle of the heritage movement, you’d have precious few locos of any type to be bored by.

 

The gala is tempting, but the prices not so tempting. £80 for a family ticket, £33 for an adult, £16 for a child + the cost of actually getting there.

How much does the price influence whether you would go or not ?