East Lancs Spring Gala 8-10 March

Whats the problem if they are known accredited lineside pass holders ? There were 2 yellows by the tunnel on friday.

 

AFAIK the ELR does not issue lineside passes, nor are there any accredited lineside pass holders.
Perhaps you know better??

 

And Douglas looked right at home on the freight...

 

Very interesting, saw yellows crossing the viaduct too and walking out of IV, had no notion might not be correct.

 

Very nice, shame I missed it

 

Video (above) and photo gallery (below) from across all three days, featuring all possible weather conditions:
Click here for my Photo Gallery


Standard 2mt 78018 at Burrs with the late afternoon freight for Ramsbottom in a hail storm. 10/03/2019

 

Is 80080 staying at E.L.R. or is it off back to midland railway butterley seen as though that line is short of steam power until jinty 47445 overhaul is completed?

 

My latest footage, enjoy.

 

At the ELR on a long term basis. 5 years I believe.

 

Its not so expensive to travel by public transport. I traveled up from Kettering ,open return £32 to Piccadilly. Seniors bus pass from Manchester to Ramsbottom .Service 473 to photograph round and about Ramsbottom..Left home about 06.30 back 21.30.I thrown a few quid in the bucket for a collection for the ELS at Summerseat. So the day cost about £35/36.Apart from the very cold wind I had a good day. Two colour images attached ,although I took mostly B&W film. I look forward to developing and printing these later on in the week.

 

I don't understand why after running numerous gala's the railway hasn't arrived at a standard template of a gala (busier than normal) timetable that is known to work then all you do is insert the loco allocation...........?

 

Mostly because people then complain that it is the same old boring format as always...

 

Change the stock & the loco's, whats boring about that? There's only so much you can run based on the infrastructure anyway.

Got to be better than running an hour & 25 minutes late either way!!

 

It never ceases to amaze me how much some so-called enthusiasts moan and complain about timetable issues. I was lucky to be born early enough and adjacent to a steam powered network and witnessed the general decline over the ensuing years. We had steam right up to the end where I lived and the feeling of loss in that final summer was felt hard. Now, here we are, 50 years later with the most amazing selection of heritage railways all over the UK. We are so lucky in this country.

 

You should change the word people to photographers.

 

I remember taking my son and some of his friends to a WSR gala a few years back...we were there to ride the trains not photograph and timetable slippage meant we ended up being 2 hours late leaving to get back home...various parents were fairly dis-chuffed, so yes "people", not just photographers.

 

I think you missed the point being made there - you as "people" would rather have a 'boring' timetable that guarantees you get back home on time, "photographers" would rather a more complicated interesting timetable and never mind if it goes wrong.

Personally I'd far rather that, on a gala, railways try and be a little ambitious with what they can achieve. It's a difficult balance to achieve, and certainly if one year it's proven not to work, definitely don't just try it again (and some railways do, the GWSR's wartime event timetable used to drive me up the wall every year!). Sometimes the locos might necessitate a more complicated timetable because of restrictions on loadings for example, so you can't always just have a one size fits gala timetable anyway. But I'll always applaud ambition, as long as it's tempered with an admission of when it doesn't quite work and to try something different next time.

 

I too was there, the lateness was caused because of a charter returning from Minehead. Everything was held in the passing loops to allow the charter to enter Network Rail on time.
So not a normal WSR gala.

 

I can't really disagree with that, I was simply pointing out that it is not just photographers who get disgruntled with very ate running! I know on the Mid Hants there is always a discussion to be had about balancing the interests of enthusiasts who come to ride, enthusiasts who come to watch and photograph, "ordinary" passengers, who do still turn up to ride the trains, and ease of operation.

Anyway, nice to see "Douglas (originally a MHR conversion now tweaked a fair bit) enjoying some interesting turns.

 

Shots from Saturday, one from Sunday, very cold and wet weekend but wonderful variety of locomotives. Thanks to all the organisers and those involved in running the trains.