Severn Valley ASG 20th-22nd September 2013

I think this was space restrictions at Bridgnorth as overnight you had set M, the northend local and the 2 Venturer coaches in the sidings. The Hollybush is only 6 mark 1's long so if you had set M as 8, you would have had to put 2 coaches elsewhere, where the local and the venturer are.

 

W-I-D-E

 

It must be pretty discreet then, I was only there last month and didn't notice anything unusual about it at the time.

 

I can see what they were trying, but it didn't quite work. Yes, the middle got some interesting moves, but the southend, particularly Kidderminster, was fairly boring. Spending 12 hours on Kiddy platform at a Gala is usually quite tiring from the amount of stuff happening, this year it was tiring because not a lot was happening.
The trains on the other hand were fairly busy overall, sometimes too busy: 2 out of the 4 journeys behind the Duchess on Saturday were packed and the queue to get off and on at the intermediate stations was quite long. Thank goodness there's no First class at Galas, in fact myself and a colleague had to point that out to several people. The full run behind met 1 was nice, but a full line train intermediately following it would have been useful as it would have taken passengers who just wanted to travel and not particularly behind the loco. Hopefully the feedback will be used constructively for next year's galas.

 

Ex-Lingfield Park, which was a station with a race course. So 95% of the year it had relatively few passengers, but just occasionally it got inundated with them (sound familiar?) The footbridge was originally built to cope with the race day crowds, so now at Sheffield Park is plenty wide enough to have a line of people both sides watching the trains, but still have space for another two columns of people to pass without conflict between them.

Tom

 

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/50576141@N03/8217474649/. Not my photo.

 

Bridgnorth footbridge should be widened to something like this. I didn't reliase that Sheffield Park's is an original footbridge, I thought they may have made it their selves to cope with large crowds.

 

Just want to add my thanks to the SVR for another cracking gala. I managed to bag 34053 when I arrived at Kiddy Sunday am for the ride up to Hampton Loade and then Met 1 back to Highley - they were the two cop locos I was after. Loved the freight too - a good length and nicely mixed up too. I agree with other posters that Kinlet Hall was an absolute star.

Thumbs up from me.

 

Very good gala, the best I've been to at the SVR in recent years (I've been to every one since 1993). The member's Sunday Saver ticket was excellent value and was actually cheaper than the evening ticket I was originally going to buy. Obviously the weather was a major improvement on the Spring gala! Kinlet Hall, 34053 and Met 1 were the stand out locos for me. It was fanatstic to see the Duchess at Bewdley, but I wasn't hugely disappointed not to get a ride behind it - the mainline is the place to experience such a beast. Over hearing conversations at the gala though, it is staggering how many people visiting the SVR galas do not take part in mainline steam or even realise it exists. For this reason alone it is important the SVR continues to book large express locomotives for galas.

 

Hmmm, there was some comment before the gala that the evening ticket was a bit pricey and the lack of member's rate on it I think was a mistake. Good to hear you think the Sunday saver is a good idea, I do.
Other than the timetable, I felt it was a good gala and seeing the crowds means you know something is going right.

 

I had a tiring yet enjoyable time during the gala. Shame about the Duchess issues throughout, I do agree with others about the gaps where nothing seemed to happen, specially where only one train would go through at say Bewdley instead of the usual passing services which would have perhaps reduced some of the crowds. We even got stranded a bit at Hampton Loade after we wanted to get some snaps then needed to get back up to Bewdley, on our return a local service terminated with 5164 followed by a Bridgnorth bound service passing 2857 on the goods. Was a very long time to wait to get back to Bewdley. At times trains were the usual cattle class but i've grown used to these and they are expected for such an event, specially round Highley though it could be aided when people ask you if there is any room in the coach when you are all standing in the corridor and you say no that they actually take your word for it rather than attempt to make their way through pushing by then 2 minutes later walking back again!

I do however miss the variety there seemed to be in previous years where locomotives would continuously change what they were hauling, in particular running a couple of the guests with the goods for 1 or 2 runs like they used to in the early/late hours, perhaps this may be possible once again as the gala seems to be 4 days next year? I even seem to recall that the timetable differed for loco diagrams for each of the three days in previous years, for example in the 2008 Cambrian one?

One comment I do have to make though, when are the weekend specials at Kidderminsters Museum cafe going to change? It's been the same two things for the past 7-8 years!!

 

Have seen a few videos of 4936 making her way to the SVR for the gala and she had a blood and custard coloured support coach, anyone know who that belongs to? Thought Tyseley only had chocolate and cream coaches?

 

My footage from the Saturday of the gala, an excellent day although I must look out for more locations next time!

 

Awesome Gala, really enjoyed the full weekend. Hit and miss with many shots thanks to the suns behaviour. Right to the last it was a great weekend and the reward was the very last shot of the weekend in the setting sun with plenty of exhaust thanks to driver Dave E!

 

Oh I see! Thank you for your reply! Hope we get to see more of her on the mainline!

 

Seconded, 4936 is in her 2nd ticket now and has never seen regular use yet.

 

My footage from Sunday's superb gala and the link to my photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/105454...alaSeptember222013?authuser=0&feat=directlink

 

My video from the SVR's Autumn Steam Gala, filmed on the Sunday. I had a wonderful day at the SVR, and I hope to return in the near future. I filmed every loco in action on that day at a variety of locations, and these are mentioned below:



925 Cheltenham - Leaving Kidderminster and Eardington Bank (Panoramic)
4936 Kinlet Hall - Foley Park and Eardington Bank (x2)
Met 1 - Leaving Bridgnorth
5164 - Foley Park (Panoramic)
34053 Sir Keith Park - Eardington Halt, Eardington and in wonderful weather conditions at Foley Park (Panoramic)
2857 - Foley Park (freight train, also featuring a separate special guest, No3 Sir Haydn from the Tallylyn Railway), leaving Bewdley and storming through Eardington Halt
43106 - Oldbury Viaduct, Highley and Foley Park
5643 - Foley Park
46233 Duchess of Sutherland - Foley Park (light engine movement with it's support coach in stunning lighting conditions, panoramic).

James at SVN

 

I think this is down to her width, 4965 doesn't do many railtours either, 4953 never did and neither does 5972, I think they are banned from a lot of routes, which is a great shame.