Mangapps Spring Gala.

Mangapps Railway are holding a Gala over the Easter Weekend, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th of April.
The event marks 25 years since the railway commenced passenger carrying operations.

Good Friday and Easter Saturday will be all diesel, Sunday and Monday will be mainly steam.
All available locos will be in service, including 6 ex BR diesels and 3 ex NCB steam locos.

For further details and news visit the Mangapps website.

 

Further to my previous post, following NCB 72 having passed its boiler test I can now confirm the following locos as operating on Easter Weekend-

Good Friday and Saturday- 47 579, 31 430, o3 081, 03 089, 03 197, D2325 and Elland No. 1.

Sunday and Easter Monday, No.8 "Fambridge", "Empress" and NCB No.72. In addition, one of the diesels will be available for "Driver experience" on the branch line on Friday, Saturday and Monday.

For visitors coming by mainline rail, we regret that there will not be any free buses between Burnham on Crouch station and Mangapps, but we have arranged a special walking route from the station which slightly reduces the distance and avoids the "non-pavement" section of Southminster Road.

As usual, I think that we can promise visitors an interesting event, with things to ride on and see that you won't get anywhere else!

 

Any way you can make it so the drive a diesel isn't 03197?

Drove that at the Autumn Gala

Also what time does the site open?

 

Can't promise, but we always do our best to accommodate our visitors

The site opens at 11.30am each day.

 

I understand. Shall be making my way up from Wickford on Monday

 

I've just looked up train times for next weekend. Sunday and Monday, the line is shut west of Wickfold, with buses between there and Newbury Park. Bums! Oh well, car it is then. It would be rude not to, I need all three steam locos for haulage!

 

We are delighted to announce that a visitor has been secured in the shape of 46233. This will be the first time the railway has played host to a Pacific and we hope it will look good on the running line.

 

I don't know where this has come from, possibly the result of a misdirected post or the date, but I can assure you that if it does turn up, it will be a complete surprise to everyone at Mangapps!!

On second thoughts, perhaps we had better order some more coal, just in case!

 

Just a quick question for flaman, is the site dog friendly?

 

Quick answer, Yes!

 

Thanks. Planning to visit on Sunday with hopefully some mates in tow.

 

Please make yourself known!

 

We have met before when the J15 visited and Geoff Silcock organised a mini charter after the day's services had finished. Chatted about the Fox Walker and the pros and cons of restoring her to working order.
I'll keep an eye out for you nevertheless.

 

A pleasant few hours at Mangapps today with a some unexpected but very welcome sunshine. Nice to have met both Mr. and Mrs. Flaman.
Here's a few pics from the event.
Fambridge
FAMBRIDGE by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

Empress
EMPRESS by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

72
72 by KING COBRA 92, on Flickr

 

Great to see you, now I can put a face to the name! Thanks for posting the excellent pix, too.

We hope you'll visit again soon, though I should warn you that Mrs Flaman is hatching a cunning plan to dognap Co-Co!

It's been a busy weekend so far, all the locos have worked as advertised and everything has run smoothly in spite of a few minor hiccups- 72 having to be temporarily stopped with a fizzling wash-out plug at half past two, the appearance of a serious wet-bed on the head-shunt, which caused train marshalling complications and, to cap it all, a local vicar tripping over on the platform and cutting his head! Ah, the fun of running Galas!

Shall be up betimes tomorrow, tightening- up wash-out plug and packing track. Fingers crossed for the weather, we should have another good day!

 

Not a post about this gala but wasn't sure if it was bad form to start a new Mangapps-related thread - and my end point is going to be highly recommending the NEXT Mangapps gala so I'll see if I can get away with it...

Paid my first visit to Mangapps on Sunday on a detour between what I hope is not a first-but-only Colne Valley trip and the Epping gala. Would highly, highly recommend a trip to that corner of Essex to check out Mr Jolly's place and its brilliant collection of curiosities. I was fortunate enough to get a workshop tour (and a stream of brilliant anecdotes) from the man himself, which was hugely appreciated. Will definitely go back for a gala/day with more locos running, though this year looks dicey work-wise for that. The line's short but there's a bit of a climb, being able to walk alongside the whole route will be great for photos and it's gloriously quirky. I left with strong feelings of "I'm really glad I did go there after all" having toyed with skipping that part of the itinerary when traffic got scruffy around Chelmsford and "I'm really glad somewhere like that exists".