Epping Ongar Summer Gala - East meets West - 5th June to 7th June 2015

As the title suggests, there is a Great Western takeover in Essex coming in June. As reported elsewhere, two guest engines have been announced:

- 'Dinmore Manor' 7820 courtesy of Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd
- Pannier Tank 6430 courtesy of Llangollen Railway

This should be supplemented by an Autocoach (again, with thanks from the Llangollen Railway) and a possible 3rd visiting engine to be announced.

They will run alongside resident Large Prarie Tank 4141. It is anticipated that season long loanee, 1744 N2, will be the standby loco.

 

Also, there is planned for a photo charter on Saturday 6th June, organised by 30742 Charters. Link below:
http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=ac6d7fc8d601f37d6771757c6&id=ca68476622

 

Steam Railway reports the 3rd and final visitor will be 1450. Both 1450 and 6430 will be running auto services South from North Weald to the line limit near Epping station, which will come at additional supplement.

 

1450 confirmed on EOR website.... also a timetable at the bottom of the page - http://eorailway.co.uk/events/steam-gala/

 

Thanks Martin, will point this out to the commercial manager.

 

Ammended now, apologies to all! Tickets are avaliable to preorder and hopefully, the stalls attending the event will be listed soon

 

Shocking that most of the trains to Epping Forest require an extra £5.

 

The only reason I can think of this is to cover the costs of bringing the Autocoach in. I'm not sure whether this is a one-off fee or for every trip made. There is a daily useage fee for the coach and also lorry costs to think about as well.

 

Sure there are good operational reasons why it's turned out that way, but a bit disappointed that the Manor only gets to climb the hill out of Epping as a banker to the Prairie. That climb was extraordinarily good fun with the N2, Prairie and Cl.37 at the April gala and when I read that a Manor (probably my favourite steam class for noise value) was coming to this gala I started trying to work out how I could rearrange the weekend plans I had in place so I could get to the EOR again and enjoy it barking its head off through the forest. I'm sure it'll be great as a banker and that even with just one auto coach 1450 and 6430 will be ace on the climb too, but it's not quite the roster I'd hoped for when I saw the gala line-up.

Conversely, good to see the auto tank getting a run with a longer set as well as its auto coach, that's a nice touch that's often missing from other galas. As perfect as auto tank + auto coach looks, I do like hearing 1450 getting stuck in with a bigger load too. I'm not as certain to attend as I was when I was picturing a front coach seat behind Dinmore Manor out of Epping Forest, but I do really admire the gala line-ups the EOR is pulling in and it's clearly a railway I'm going to be spending a lot of time at over the coming years.

 

I've spoken to the CME and Commercial manager about the supplement. They would of prefered no addition cost for the autocoach, but due to the high cost of transport, if we didnt charge extra - we wouldnt of had the coach. There is three visiting engines and a coach all to bring in by road, making the margins of breaking even very small. It is a shame, but with the photocharter and the chance for something different, the supplement is necessary.

Thanks for the positive comments about the galas. As we are a relatively new line, we try and pull out 'all the stops' to get people in to see what we have to offer! The CME has commented that he chose the Manor at that end of the train as there is more climbs from Ongar to North Weald where you can hear it work. For example it will make more noise coming up from Blake Hall and up to the M11 bridge. Its pretty much uphill from Ongar to NW apart from the downhill bit by Blake Hall station. Its guarenteed to make noise either way though to be honest.

 

Also, for those who are wanting to know the direction the engines are hoped to be facing:

4141 - Towards Epping
7820 - Towards Epping
6430 - Towards Ongar
1450 - Towards Ongar

Obviously, this is subject to change - but this is what we've requested.

 

I can understand the reasoning and that is fair enough but I assume the railway is bringing in 238 'Chaffinch'? I hope you realise the interior is not authentic and is still in the state it was in at the P&D.

 

Have you read the first post of this thread? We haven't a Hawkesworth design trailer at Llangollen.

 

Thanks for the reply Joe - you know your line's gradient profile better than me! My judgement from the windows in April was that the climb back from Epping was the highlight but happy to be corrected by a Manor's performance elsewhere. M25/M3 permitting, will be having a crack at some kind of EOR/Lion on the Mid-Hants/evening office shift triple on that Sunday then.

 

Thanks for the info, but if I believe correctly 238 is from the SVR? We are hiring from Llan and we've requested the carmine and cream one. So the above shouldn't be a problem.

I think one of the good things about our line, either direction there is some good climbs if you're doing full line trips. I should be around all three days, so say hello if you do pop in!

 

Quick update, 6430 and 1450 have arrived and facing towards Ongar and the tender for Dinmore has arrived facing Epping.

 

very enjoyable day on friday thanks