Swanage Railway 'Strictly Bulleid' Gala, 31 March - 2 April 2017

A few snaps from today. Trains looked well loaded, thanks to everyone involved at the Swanage, back tomorrow to have a ride! Andy

 

Can someone please confirm if the parking charge at Nordon P&R is still £3? Cheers.

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If anyone happens to capture a shot of me handing out or collecting tokens at Swanage, especially with one of the unrebuilts, I wouldn't mind a copy for the album...

TIA

Robin

 

what a great 1st day trains packed and the run to the river Frome gives the locos a good work out spent the morning and early afternoon on the trains doing some photography as the light improved later on.Nordon car park was full yesterday so get there early or park in Swanage. Well done Swanage heres to round 2 on the Mid Hants in July with a merchant Navy thrown in as well.

 

What time are you starting duty? I intend to be arriving at Swanage behind Wells at 14:15 so may get the shot you're looking for?

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On duty from about 15:15 until 23:00

Perhaps the next 'Wells' departure?

Robin

 

Had a fantastic day yesterday,really enjoyable runs,great sounding and looking locos in superb weather,I think the idea of running to the River Frome is a great one and was well pulled off,knowing how hard it must've been to work out all of the loco swaps etc. It's also worth appreciating the work that's gone into the section beyond Norden,I last traveled over that section in May 2009 with 37716 and can see a huge difference,well done to all involved!

My only gripe was the situation at Harmans Cross in the afternoon where there was a lack of stopping trains,however on reflection I can understand there are no doubt operational reasons for this,but at the time it was a bit annoying to be sat on the station from 15:20 to 16:30 (ish) and watching 2 trains come non-stop through the station at slow speed. (this was not helped by the lack of suitable communication from SR staff at the station)

Well done though to all involved,the most ambitious gala I've visited at Swanage for many years and it was very enjoyable,only wish I could be there all weekend.

Thanks all.

I've put an album on Flickr with a collection of images taken around Harmans and Corfe during the day:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark-walker/albums/72157678785784163

 

Tried but too much steam.

Say hello to Mr G for me? Saw him in the box both this morning and with you. The best briefer we ever had!
Matt

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Just back from a brilliant day at Swanage. Spent the morning travelling on VERY full trains and visiting Herston Works then did some photography in the afternoon, with the weather obliging nicely. 34081 seemed keen to take the "volcano" title from 34092 with the 2.20 departure from Swanage. Quite a display!

Fantastic also to see 34092 on its home patch and to photograph it coming under Cat's Eye (A351) Bridge north west of Norden in the sun.

Thanks to all involved. A really enjoyable time. I hope that everyone who is going there tomorrow has a good a day as I had today.

 

A very enjoyable day and worth the long drive. 34092 was the star for me. Spent the morning on trains and photos in the afternoon.
Thanks to all those involved.

 

All, I can only echo previous posts - a fantastic weekend which appears to have been and will be (tomorrow) well supported and huge thanks to all at Swanage for arranging. Uppermost in my mind is comment made by numerous enthusiasts that it will be very difficult to gather 5 operational Bulleids in one place again! A great advertisement for Heritage Railway movement. Thanks to all at Swanage for making it possible,

 

Just to re-iterate the comments already expressed above. Wow! What an event. Well done to all those involved with organising it, the loco owners and support crews and the volunteers who managed to pull it off. Yes, there was a lot of late running but so what? It was an intensive timetable with little time for recovery and lots available to occupy any downtime, so much so, I didn't even get time to visit the works. Will just have to wait to see 31874 and 34072 when they make their long awaited return to traffic.

Travelled far more than I usually do at a Swanage gala and therefore missed out on many of the usual shots I would take but well worth it.

Even the good weather put in an appearance much my surprise having seen the forecast for heavy showers all day.

 

All I can say is fantastic event. Locomotive owning groups are welcoming, and rightly proud of their steeds. Will be hanging around until mid-afteroon today, but yesterday was excellent.

 

Agree John an excellent day and god to see some exiles from main line steam there, including a recently retired driver. Our pattern was also mileage am and linesiding pm in the superb weather. Managed over 80 miles of haulage by dint of changing trains at Corfe and Swanage. Had to stand a few times to get milepost side but well worth it. The timetable was much too tight so by the end of the day trains were 45 late but it didn't really matter. Without wishing to spoil the party the unrebuilt pacifics struggled a bit at times. Both 34092 on the 0940 and 34081 on the 1020 really had a fight to get out of Swanage losing lots of time to Corfe but these were their first trains and they had been standing around all night in steam. 34092 also slipped on the 1 in 78 up to Furzebrook from Frome river so having reached 21.3 mph the driver settled for 17-18 mph at which speed The Volcano kept her feet. The 11 minute booking Norden to Frome River wasn't kept on any train we were on; far too tight. It was though a brilliant day and thanks to all for their efforts . Once in a lifetime event and I hope the Railway made some money after paying for all the visiting locos.

 

Sad to say I had to miss this one. Thanks for posting your photos guys.

 

Alas, things have dropped by an hour today, but still nice to see some headboards.

 

I asked the financial question about the Gala of Matt Green, Swanage General Manager today.

It is plainly for the Railway to publish financial results but he did have a very broad smile on his face when answering my question.....

Robin

 

Well deserved. Lots of people, good atmosphere, stunning stud of locos. What's not to like?