GCR Winter Steam Gala 27-29th January 2017

Had a very enjoyable Friday morning and Saturday despite camera problems on Saturday morning and thawing out on Friday afternoon.

My pictures have been uploaded here - http://steamingnorth.com/thumbnails.php?album=208


John

 

I suspect the real reason the Q didn't work a freight during daylight hours is because that way the GCR can make a lot more money out of it from the charter fraternity over the coming week.

 

What an enjoyable weekend. Highlight was sitting at Swithland (having recently acquired a lineside permit) on Sunday. The jinty was shunting the yard (arranging stock for a photo charter and moving various wagons around for restoration), the 9F was looped on an up minerals train whilst Cromwell powered past on an express passenger in one direction whilst a black 5 sailed through on a local stopper in the other direction.


The conditions didn't lend themselves to many photos, but having that access to Swithland on gala days is worth the lineside permit holders fee alone in my opinion.

 

At one point during that shunt there were three steam-hauled goods trains moving simultaneously at Swithland; a line of vans being dragged up the yard, one (I think the mixed) pulling into one of the loops and one (I think the minerals) passing the other way on the main line. Despite (or perhaps because of) the cold and drizzle, the atmosphere was unbeatable. Went home happy if a little damp!

 

Hi Lee, thanks for posting your video. I was on the first train (0900 ex Loughborough) on Sunday and had planned to get off at Quorn to spend some time lineside! I was somewhat surprised when it passed though non-stop as shown on your film of 30541 and 777 double-headed! However, I enjoyed the ride to Leicester (no point getting off at Rothley since the fist train back was the one I was on!) and got off on return. The guard explained that the Working Timetable indicated the 0900 was ECS and hence not scheduled to stop. Err, the gala programme had it calling at 0907! I wasn't bothered; however,as it was the first train out of Quorn where most visitors were parking, I suspect there were a few unhappy punters?
Had a great morning in any case! Andy

 

I didn't mind the Q being double headed. It meant for me the two Southern engines passed in one go and that I could get on with seeing something decent appear on the next train.

*Takes hat and ducks....

 

Once again, the Great Central Railway put on a good show which suitably opens what should be an action packed 2017, especially where Southern locos are involved.

While not the most glorious of weather throughout the 3 days, numerous breaks in the clouds made for some interesting shots and certainly one silhouette that won't be forgotten by myself! I've put a couple of photographs up on Flickr, alongside the silhouette here :

Southern Q No. 30541 - Quorn by Jonathon Gourlay, on Flickr

 

Yes, quite a few including me. Dad and I had arrived at around 8.20 to leave enough time to get tickets and hopefully something to eat before the train went through. However went through the train did, the Butler-Henderson cafe was closed when we headed over at around 8.45 so we ended up standing around until 10:00 waiting to get started for the day. Thankfully someone stood in at the NAFFI (booked member of staff was on your train) so we could get a cup of coffee eventually!

We did enjoy ourselves, although the cold got to Dad and we bailed out after the rain started to fall. The GCR puts on a great 'show' at events such as this. Just passing Swithland on the passenger trains is a great experience, seeing all the trains and locos preparing to do their thing in the yard. Then theres the novelty of passing a moving train on the double track - all very enjoyable. A shout out to the Griddle car too, an excellent bacon & sausage bap - though regret not going for the full english - looked excellent!

An excellent event and always something going on, wherever you look. We'd managed to see 5 engines in working through Quorn, in a short space of time whilst waiting to get on a train.

P.S. We were unable to pay for parking at Quorn, there was no one in sight when we arrived and no one in the station knew anything about it as 'It's nothing to do with the station'.

 

My offerings from all three days. A cracking weekend all round, with some challenging weather! Highlight for me was the Saturday morning TPO from 70013!

Enjoy!

 

Well I've had a look through my photos and here are a couple of 'atmospheric' ones.

It was just a shame the drive back to London took 3 hours in the pouring rain!

 

A few of my shots from the Friday of the Gala

Leicester North Station

Leicester North Station by Tim White, on Flickr

Black 5

LMS Black 5 - 45305 by Tim White, on Flickr

Standard 5

British Railways Standard 5 - 73156 by Tim White, on Flickr

Class 31

Class 31 D5830 by Tim White, on Flickr

There are a few more in my Gala flickr album

 

My report and link to my photographs taken:

http://www.blackhatrailwaypictures.co.uk/f393251402

The Great Central railway often is an excellent example of the sights and sound of a railway running as they used to, years ago. The railway does have a nice character and quality to it, but on gala events, with TPOs and freights running too, the railway takes on yet another dimension.

Photos in these two galleries taken over the Weekend of the 28th and 29th January 2017 show the railways winter gala in all its splendour. In many ways, the weather added to the atmosphere, with sunny spells allowing glorious photos mixed with challenging conditions for lighting, but then sometimes gave an excellent backdrop.

The railways home fleet has quite an impressive line-up. The mix of midland region engines like the Black 5, 8F and Ivatt 2 gives of a nice midland feel. The other elements like the BR standards such as Cromwell and the BR Standard 2MT add to put the fleet in the right general period and context, and while the resident Hall on the line might not be in keeping with geography the matching rake of chocolate and cream coaching stock makes the engine fit in well. Indeed, these also go nicely with Cromwell and the Ivatt 2 out shopped in the western green style.

For many the Southern engines were an attraction, the Q class joining the King Arthur class engine that is resident on the line. Its true that many did like seeing the pairs together, but personally, the Great Central winter gala allowed some excellent chances to photograph the double track railway and its infrastructure with trains that could have been thought to have been on the great central, midland, or western region in the dawn of a year in the early 1960s.

 

I did question the man collecting the money if you had to pay the 3 quid if you were buying a ticket to the event too - answer was yes to cover the costs of rent the field. I think it's a bit cheeky to ask for that extra on top of buying a ticket, though I appreciate just charging those who aren't travelling on the trains would be almost impossible to police. In any case I get a decent discount from being a friend of the GCR member.

My favourite photos from across the 3 days here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/djcs_trains/albums/72157675957721924
Some of the visitor - according to the GCR website will be on passenger duty with 777 this weekend, including a double header!

 

That's a great panned shot of the Q class.
Cheers,

 

Sorry but you're wrong. Halls regularly ran over the GC and 6990 did so as part of the locomotive exchanges in 1948 so it's entirely in keeping with geography. 777 is the resident interloper (but we'll let it off because it's nice).

 

Hello all,

Having not long got back from a few days away after the gala before the bump back to reality it's great to see all the positive comments as well as the photos and videos which seem to suggest it was a great weekend. Timewise we lost a bit on Saturday due to 45305 having problems during preparation which meant it was late off shed then there were reports of dragging brakes on a down train in the afternoon at Rothley which led to delays of up to around 30 minutes mid-late afternoon.

Sunday morning saw what can only be described as a communications cock up which led to the first passenger train of the day not stopping at Quorn so apologies to those of you who were affected by that, gives us some lessons to learn! We then had issues with the pairing of 46521 and 6990 which struggled to create vacuum before departure of the 0945 from Loughborough leading to around about 15 minutes delay for a fair while. Not our best performance time-wise but nevertheless I hope we still managed to do enough to entice many of you back to future events!

Now I'm looking forward to visiting some galas at other railways, KWVR and SVR currently on the cards for me next

Phil

 

It was a general comment in the review of the line. If many people were asked where a Hall was thought to run, most would name the Western region proper. Yes Halls might have been seen on the line and Witherslack might be able to trace its appearance back to an exchange, but that doesn't mean most would think of them in the east midlands normally, hence the 'might' not be in keeping with geography meaning the general area rather than a specific location.

The Hall does sound like, and is in my opinion, a fantastic machine, and if its got links to the line all the better. 777 might be an interloper, but while some might like that as some variety, its no where near nice on my preferences. Still, I'm not having a go at their efforts to get the engine in steam. Its a case of each to their own, but preservation sees engines turn up all over now - and while Reptons overall on the Moors looks fantastic, I'm in no hurry to see that bloody thing return either. Again that's just an opinion, but its 2017 and preserved railways have morphed into something else beyond what they were years ago whether in preservations early days or further back when part of the network.

 

OK, I'm not going to split hairs with you over the use of the word 'might'. The fact is though that the GC as a trunk route had regular GW locos on inter-regional workings (I've seen a photo of a 'Hall' at Rushcliffe Halt), it also regularly saw green coaches (I'm less sure about the chocolate & cream ones!). The present loco fleet, SR oddities aside, is a reasonable mix of what might have been around towards the end, indeed some of the locos actually ran on the line (73156 for example). The glaring omissions currently are LNER locos which is a shame because we used to have several. Yes I know we have the N2 (when it's there) but that fits in with geography even less than the Hall. We might also have a J94 lookalike soon*, 'Robert' is not far off. But it's a far cry from the Director and pair of B1s we used to have. Ah well.

I don't really mind the preservation-era variety at all although it is nice when a line can turn out a properly authentic train, certainly.

(* I have no idea of intended identiy or whether it will get a BR number. The owner has painted it black though.)