Severn Valley Railway 2019 Spring Gala

Yes, it’s a gamble, but it’s particularly frustrating if you have connections to make by public transport. I have had a couple of occasions on normal SVR running days when trains have been running to time all day only for my last train back to Kiddy to be held at Bewdley waiting for a light engine to return from Kiddy. At galas, when, let’s be honest, late running is not uncommon, you can change your plans during the day based on how late they are running, but it does seem quite common for extra delays to occur at the end of the day as trains are being put away (I hate to think how many times I’ve sat outside Loughborough Central at the end of a day). Having said all this, I’m currently on my way to the SVR and my plans to get a ride behind all of the visiting locos will get me back to Kiddy with a 10 minute connection back to Brum. Let’s hope Captain Cod will still be open to occupy the hour’s wait I will have when I fail to make the “connection”.

I should add that, if I do make the 10 minute connection at Kiddy, I then have a 5 minute connection at Galton Bridge, 7 minutes at Sandwell & Dudley and 6 minutes at Crewe and the rather sad, but surprising, fact is that past experience makes me more confident of making those three single digit connections on national rail than the 10 minute connection off the SVR.

 

May I ask: do you ever mention to SVR staff that you are trying to make a connection?

My own experience as a SVR volunteer is that such messages do get passed on to staff on the ground so that if possible connections at Kidderminster are not missed if we know passengers are hoping to rely on them. Obviously it's still not always possible to do so (particularly at a Gala!), but it can sometimes save a connection.

Having said that - I hope you have a fantastic day whatever happens!

 

My latest footage, enjoy

 

A decent day's action on Friday and standing room only on many of Saturday's trains, which meant the awful forecast didn't put too many people off !

 

Luckily didn't rain until 3.30ish.

 

Some photos from today. Everything more or less ran to time and other than a bit of a cold wind at times the weather held up as well.

 

A cracking day, and a pork pie and Purple Moose for £ 2.50 at Kiddy, tops.

 

Had a fun day today. Discovered my boss is also a rail enthusiast so we went together, result. Very spirited run behind the prarie, and first time seeing the standard 4 which looked gorgeous. Enjoyed the revamped Engine House, manor cab well presented and the pannier getting a lot of attention in its new livery. Later running would have been appreciated, and feel like there may have been too many locos so some rather under utilised, but SVR remains a fantastic all round package.

 

Was the kidderminster platforms pointwork back to normal today has trains been running into platform 1 did the points finally get repaired after yesterday?

 

Any clues to the smokebox reporting numbers on the Manor this weekend. Sorry if I've missed this earlier.

 

No running around was possible out of that platform however it was usable with shunt release.

Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

What strikes me about the railway is how neat and tidy the embankments are. With the wonderful scenery around the Severn Valley it's always good to be able to appreciate it from the train. <BJ>

 

Oh good, someone else seems to have attended the event I did! Was the same Saturday, access to the 08:55 was stopped by 08:30 due to already being full with not even standing room left. Not good, could really have done with one of the 4x coach locals. The First train at 09:50 was well filled too, could really do with being 10-coaches, and have 2x coaches drop off as a shuttle upon arrival at Bridgnorth. Other than that, yes the timetable worked and delays were few and far between (taking out 1054 failure Fri and KR Points issue Sat) but when we know the SVR can do so much more - because it has done so! - it's not been a unforgettable SSG, just another "nice" event.

The comment of some locos being under utilised comes across as fair, as some were stood around doing nothing for 2+ hours at times. Seems pointless steaming 10x locos when 8x would of achieved the same outcome. And the fact the 33 got called into use to TnT with 1501, in order to keep to the timings for the autotrain turnaround, whilst Novel goes against the title of Spring STEAM Gala & seems to make a mockery of some of these layovers.

The Engine House revamp is well done, and I enjoyed going round that. Bridgnorth new catering facility looks to be good, though the menu spoken of in the leaflet didn't totally correlate fully to what was actually being sold... Sundays timetable was odd, the SVR Ltd diner ran as per "normal" but wasn't a dining train. What was the point? Meant there was over an hour of No trains Northbound which just seemed pointless.

I still don't get why the Sunday diner no longer run as it has been at previous galas - where S6 is joined by a local set to form 10x coach and give seating for normals. Therefore diners still get their exclusive seating, but there not too much of a hole in the TT for general visitors. Last time this was done was Manor50, where the Toplights were added to the diner behind 7802, and didn't create such a lull for those wishing to get on/off across the railway and visit each station.

 

The diner was cancelled due to low bookings.

 

Fairly sure they did this last year, with the same stock; S6 and the toplights.

 

Have i heard right off a fellow enthusiast on a train on saturdays gala not too far in the future next year i think the lad said i spoke to that falling sands viaduct over the canal is to have its brickwork strengthened up so the section of trackbed between bewdley and kidderminster will temporaliy close due to scaffolding been erected while this work takes place can anyone confirm this or how long it will take masons to complete work on the viaduct?

 

They've been fundraising for Falling Sands Viaduct for a while now. I think they've raised around £700,000 so far. It is in need of structural repair and maintenance or there is a risk it could collapse and cut Kidderminster off from the rest of the railway. I think it is inevitable that there will be a period of closure whilst that maintenance work takes place.

 

Hand signalmen deployed on sunday with the points clipped in P1 position

 

As a linesider who drove over 100 miles for this event on Sunday, I have to agree with L'il Bear regarding the disappointing timetable. Whilst the first Sunday departure from Kidderminster was the pair of Pannier Tanks (7714 + 1501) the paucity of services - given the number of available locomotives - indicated either a lack of resolve or a lack of volunteers. More to the point regarding loco operations was that in the afternoon linesiders in the Bridgnorth area were left disappointed after 15:30 when the last 2 working from Kidderminster and the penultimate 2 workings from Bridgnorth were facing the wrong way hence leading to an early departure. Whilst it gave an opportunity to visit the shops / stalls at the stations to spend money it called into question the value of future visits. In one context the benefit of the Diesel Operation means the locos face the "right" way whichever direction they are travelling but - for steam galas - does the question of turning locomotives or taking care over the mix of locomotives ever come into consideration ?

 

One would hope that as and when Bridgnorth gets its turntable and locos can be turned at each end this might be considered for galas? It's extremely welcome on the WSR, and for me, it might just make the difference between me going and not going when otherwise it only looks like a mediocre gala. (I should say mediocre is used very relatively here, SVR galas are never mediocre in their own right!