No ‘S160’ for ‘GlosWarks’ gala

Misfortune has struck the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railsway’s ‘Cotswold Festival of Steam’ gala yet again, as visiting ‘S160’ No. 6046 has dropped out at the last minute.


Out of action: Churnet Valley Railway-based ‘S160’ No. 6046 has become the third visiting locomotive to drop out of the ‘GlosWarks’ ‘Cotswold Festival of Steam’ gala. It is pictured leaving Goathland at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s autumn gala on October 2 2016. TOBY JENNINGS/SR

It was announced on May 25, just two days before the locomotive was scheduled to take part in the May 27-29 event that the USATC 2-8-0 would no longer be attending the gala, having been failed with an overheating big end bearing.

The ‘S160’ is the third scheduled visiting engine to pull out of the GWSR’s ‘Cotswold Festival of Steam’ gala. Great Central Railway-based ‘Black Five’ No. 45305 was announced as the first visiting engine to the ‘Workhorses of Steam’-themed event back in February, but overrunning firebox repairs forced the Stanier 4-6-0 to withdraw from the line-up.

Somerset & Dorset ‘7F’ No. 53808 was confirmed as the ‘Black Five’s replacement, courtesy of the West Somerset Railway and the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust, but due to the Minehead branch requiring the 2-8-0 for its peak Bank Holiday weekend services, it too had to bow out of the gala.

The GWSR has managed to secure the services of BR Standard ‘4MT’ No. 76017 from the Mid-Hants Railway, which will attend alongside the Severn Valley Railway’s ‘14XX’ 0-4-2T No. 1450.

The autotank will be hauling a push-pull shuttle service between the railway’s headquarters at Toddington and the current railhead at Little Buckland, making it the first passengers services to work over the extension towards Broadway.

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Am I alone in wondering whether Steam Railway magazine is really on the side of hardworking heritage railways or like so many journalists is more interested in knocking stories? The reason for the absence are well explained in another thread and in my view didn't need a separate headline. A supportive journalist may have trumpeted that this is a first opportunity to travel over the newly commissioned extension whist making mention of the herculean efforts made to overcome the difficulties of obtaining visiting engines with which to put on what I hope (and based on previous years expect) will be a great event.

 

Steam Railway has *always* looked for the tabloid headline and any opportunity to criticise or blame someone. It's known as "Steam Sun" (and other names) for this reason. It's their house style, which I presume some of their readers like.