Llangollen Spring Steam Gala - 19th-21st April 2013

Llangollen railways spring steam gala will be held over the weekend of April 19th-21st. The home fleet will be in operation along with the star of the gala, the steam railmotor which will be reunited with its trailer and therefore operating as and SMU for the first time in preservation. Timetable not yet released but the the 3 days will see:

Fri - RM, 7822, 6430 & 80072

Sat - RM, 44806, 6430, 7822 & 80072

Sun - RM, 3802, 80072, 44806 & 6430

The line is now operational back to Carrog and the railmotor & 6430 should also venture dowm the extension.

See Llangollen Railway - Events - Spring Steam Gala for ticket information

 

For the gala 3802 will be looking a little bit different! And hopefully so will 7822.

Fans of 6430 please note that this is her last gala of its current boiler ticket. The bottom end is getting pretty tired now, so it hasn't got long left.

Llan sheds will be open for tours on the Saturday and Sunday. Come and see progress on: The Patriot - lots of nice new lumps of metal turning up all the time, The Grange - planned to be an 0-6-0 or more by then, 7754 - the bottom end is slowly going back together, and could also be re-wheeled by the gala, 47xx - I'm sure something has progressed with this!! 5532 (there's a number you don't hear very often) - the boiler is now in the shed for assessment, and the bottom end is getting there, 5539 - bottom end is progressing well.

 

Just been looking a our roster and it looks like 6430 won't be running an auto service so probably won't make it down the extension, the t/t will reveal all when its published!

 

Ok, so it's been written in Steam at Llan so time to announce it on here.

As I mentioned above 3802 is having a makeover, and for the gala it will be running in a most suitable livery - BR Black.

Foxcote will still be in Green for the gala, as the group is sticking to the original plan of painting it blue in September.

 

So why did you prematurely announce it? You have given the impression that it would be in blue for the gala and I for one have not booked a B&B because of that impression. I really don't want to see a Manor in Caledonian dark blue no matter what other attractions this gala has and I wouldn't be slightest bit surprised if there aren't others who share my view.

A good way of reducing the takings from the gala!

 

Not really. The owning group were going to do it early, as 7812 is not appearing at the April gala, but due to over running tender work there is not enough time to do it.

Why not just look the other way when the manor is near you?

 

Probably because apart from the rail motor which has been here there and everywhere it is just a boring home fleet gala, with locos that have run at every gala for the last 3 - 4 years. 7812 may have made it interesting. It seems that the LR galas are going backwards quickly.

 

Yes really! Even as late as 27 Feb you were implying on 'The Works' that the loco might be in blue.

As for your fatuous remark about looking the other way, a weekend at the Llangollen will cost in excess, well in excess, of £300, so why don't I just stay at home and save the money? And that is what I'm going to do!

 

Yes, I said it might be in blue. I didn't say it would definitely be in blue.

 

Our galas probably are quickly going backwards. It's all down to money at the end of the day. Low loaders cost 3 grand each, pretty much. So the cost of hiring in lots of visiting engines, against the money brought in by passengers has a rather large gap, that isn't in the railways favour.

If people want to see better galas at Llan, then they are going to have to support us in these smaller ones.

And, as Martin has said above, this event has the debut of the railmotor a trailer car. The first opportunity for anyone to ride the completed unit.

 

Was going to mention this - the fares to seem a little... well, describe Berwyn Bank... for 4 home fleet locos?

 

All down to what it costs to run a railway event these days. I'm sure if the price of coal was cheaper, then a ticket would be cheaper.

 

Coal hasn't gone up that much over the last few years, although it has gone up. What has gone up is the cost of road transport and the fees owners charge for their locos. It's not that long ago you could hire an ex BR loco for £300-350/day. Even a small industrial wil lcost more than that, today. You can almost add a nought onto it for some of the larger locos nowadays, and those that don't aren't going to earn enough to pay for overhauls. As the WSR GM has said, the days of the mega-gala are over. The only way to keep visiting loco costs down is to have reciprocal agreements where railway A and railway B swap locos and don't charge each other a hire fee and that is really only hiding the true cost.

 

I believe for some of the mainline registered locos we had for the SSS events, your talking around £900 per day. Then 2 to 3 tons of coal at £180 per ton.

Then come the hidden costs of running a railway. Maintenance fees for rolling stock, track and signalling.

It soon adds up!

 

There are some that would charge much more than £900!

 

If 3802 is being repainted BR Black, how come its only running on the Sunday? Wouldn't it make sense to have it our over the full weekend being quite a large draw?

 

Any news on a timetable for the gala yet? Looking forward to a visit next week.....

thanks!

 

Sincerely wish I could still buy coal for my road engine at that sort of price!

Was paying £180/ton 6 years ago, much nearer £290 a ton these days if you're only buying it 2 ton or so at a time :Cry:

 

The advantage of buying in bulk, when you're getting a 28 ton delivery every week then the price per ton tends to come down.

As Steve said, its not so much the price of coal that has gone up; at Swanage, our coal has gone up £10 per ton in the last 12 months and we have a guarantee from our supplier it won't go up for another 12 months. Its all the ancillary costs to staging galas that have risen proportionally greater.