Railway200: The Greatest Gathering. Derby Litchurch Lane. 1-3 August.

I was there on Thursday on the Creighton-Ward Explorer, but wish I had also booked one of the full days as only having a couple of hours I probably only saw a quarter of what was on show. I certainly didn't get into any of the buildings or the back end of the site where the electrics etc were.

Dave B

 

I was too slow to book when it first opened, and then away till Saturday, so didn't try for later availability on the Sunday. Reading the above, I regret not having been able to attend, but am glad to see that the railway industry can still put on a top show like this.

 

I'm sorry to be the party pooper but truthfully, I was disappointed. My main gripe was that there were very few C19th/pre-grouping exhibits on display. There were only five steam locomotives from the whole of the nineteenth century--and yet there were six class 66 diesels, five class 50s and five class 57s! This event was supposed to be a celebration of two hundred years of railway history, yet the first one hundred years felt woefully underrepresented.

Moreover, the arrangement of exhibits felt very random. There was no attempt to group them in such a way as to create a coherent historical narrative. And, whilst photography was always going to be challenging at such a crowded event, the arrangement of the exhibits certainly didn't help matters. Most of the steam locos, in particular, were against the light. Obvious groupings or pairings of exhibits were missed. In particular, the long awaited A1/2/3/4 reunion finally happened--yet the exhibits were arranged such that you couldn't even see them side by side, let alone photograph them. Midland Railway No. 1000--which, as the only Midland loco present at Derby, ought to have been one of the star exhibits--was shoved into the middle of a dark shed, only accessible by a very narrow, congested passageway.

And to cap it all, there was the infuriating dancing robot...I'm all in favour of entertainment for the children, but it was SO loud and SO irritating, and it seemed to perform almost continuously. After overhearing its third 'performance', I had to fight down the urge to raid the workshop toolboxes to find a hammer to smash the blasted thing.

I hate to be so negative--I'm sure a lot of hard work went into the event, and the logistics were generally good (my main gripe was the difficulty of finding any hot drinks among the numerous food stalls). The displays of models and miniatures were excellent; despite all my grumbles, I could happily have spent more time looking at these, had the site been open longer. But looking at the event as a whole, did it really live up to its billing as a celebration of 200 years of railways? Truthfully, I have to say no.

Sent from my SM-A125F using Tapatalk

 

That was my main grumble (we don't all carry water bottles and I couldn't find any water fountains even if I did) along with a point made by another poster - a general lack of seating.

I didn't find the Furness loco - also, some other exhibits seemed to be missing as there were a few display cards placed to one side?

Okay, it was never going to match the cavalcade of the 150th, but let's not forget that fifty years have passed since then.

Aren't there events planned at Shildon too?

 

The Furness loco was on a track just alongside the big Alsthom shed opposite the building where our stall was and across from the demo line where the Jubilee was running up and down. Hagley Hall was behind it.

 

Just be thankful that it happened. It was never going to please everyone but I suspect the vast majority of those who attended had a great time. I enjoyed it in between stints on the BBLS stall.

 

Yes i am glad i booked Friday & Saturday GG tickets as well as the Creighton-Ward tour as i am disabled with difficulty walking so needed the extra days to see everything.
Only complaint i had was a lack of seating around the open areas, i was just glad my walking stick opens out into a seat!!

 

It was also difficult to see well for me on Day 1 as it was pretty crowded by people queuing to get onto the footplate

 

How did I miss that? Mind you, my inbuilt GWR-avoidance system probably kicked in

I was surprised though that when we had that short, sharp deluge at Sunday lunchtime that sent everyone scurrying into the sheds for shelter that the Clan Line mob weren't out with chamois leathers afterwards

 

I went on Friday, and after a couple of hours accepted I wasn't going to be able to see everything, so decided to sacrifice completeness for the sake of experience. Missed a few things to queue for the narrow-gauge and student projects, and for cabbing a couple of things. Meant I missed a lot of the exhibitors (I'm particularly regretting missing seeing Hengist's bogie) but them's the breaks. Ate lunch with smoke from 35028 drifting across, got a really good look at the Baby Deltic, so all worthwhile. I lost my bearings at one point trying to find the Peak District before I realised it was near the exit, along with the Westerns and Sarah Siddons so I was able to get a decent look in the very last ten minutes. A good event, all considered.

 

Although hiding 6203, 92214 and 1000 right down in a shed meant I nearly missed them until I realised I hadn't seen a 9F and I knew there was one about somewhere.

 

I thought 6203 was almost poking its smokebox out of the door?

I was pleased to see this too: something tells me this will be a cracking little engine when completed.

 

Brain fart - I meant 6023

 

No probs! Mind you, the last time I saw 6023 it was very challenging to get a photo of as it was stuffed into a dark corner of the shed at Didcot - even my 12 - 24mm lens had 'fun' with it.

 

40 106 seemed absent and a real surprise was D213 penned off on its own at the end of the line of Peaks.

 

I, too, managed to completely miss these exhibits. Fortunately I'd seen most of them before, so it wasn't the end of the world, but it was slightly frustrating all the same. Certainly, I felt that the official map in the guidebook was not particularly clear, and it was pretty well useless if one wanted to locate specific vehicles.

 

In fairness, whilst I didn't attend The Greatest Gathering, I recall Railfest 2012 similarly had exhibits layed out unusually. I think a Scot Rail EMU was displayed in front or behind the LNWR Coal Tank and Hardwicke as I recall and the replica of Puffing Billy was displayed near the Brighton Belle Driving Motor Car.

 

Can someone suggest a reason why the LNER 91 in the NRM 50 livery has the Duchess featured instead of the obvious candidate 4468?

 

Unique? There's only one streamlined Duchess, and it's pretty striking to look at.

 

True but it’s an LNER loco. I doubt the LNER of old would have promoted their rival’s products.