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Severn Valley Railway,March 6, 7, 8, 2009 Festival of Steam

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by 45002, Nov 7, 2008.

  1. 45002

    45002 New Member

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    Maybe the Autumn steam gala may be intresting to you,who knows and SVR does not just shunt engines [-X

    MARTIN :wink:
     
  2. jtx

    jtx Well-Known Member

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    You clearly have no idea how the Severn Valley does galas.
     
  3. 60 007

    60 007 New Member

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    So the Spring Steam Gala has not traditionally had a branch line theme then?!? ](*,)
     
  4. 60 007

    60 007 New Member

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    Yes they do, along a 16 mile siding. Normally with coaches and passengers in tow...
     
  5. 60 007

    60 007 New Member

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    To add to that comment, I do actually. The 2005 gala was a fantastic event. All locos about the correct size for the SVR.
     
  6. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    with due respect but the branch line theme is relatively recent and has seen reasonable but not wow numbers in terms of visitors . Maybe it is time for a change and a big engines weekend in the Winter is just what is needed

    43106 also hasn't yet turned a wheel let alone be confirmed for any gala's and as such it's highly premature for it's first turns to be away from the railway as nice as it would be for a NNR visit
     
  7. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    Not always. As pointed out elsewhere the concept of the spring steam gala being branch line based is a relatively recent and even in it's short time that theme has been compromised (notably the 2003 S&D Gala (and 2007's gala couldn't really be called branch line themed with 88 as visitor) and even then the branch theme was never set in stone! What the SVR does have a history of is two galas a year and what galas they are! Seriously there is no other railway where a gala comes close! I fail to understand your criticism here. To me the SVR are just raising the game and bringing the spring gala to the same level as the autumn one - the SVR leads others follow! Although it's a shame there will be no all night running (although I understand the reasons)
     
  8. steamingyorkshire

    steamingyorkshire Well-Known Member

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    That is such a bias comment to make, i'd of said the SVR was following the NYMR from the A4's and how much money such engines brought in, and also the Great Central Autumn gala and how much money was brought in from that event, well that's my personal opinion and i would certainly have said they aren't the ones to set the trend, but one of the ones to follow.
     
  9. Pete Thornhill

    Pete Thornhill Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Administrator Moderator Friend

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    Maybe but thats MY Opinion!!!

    How can you say that? Who started all night running at galas in 1993?
     
  10. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    So they have appearing an Express loco from nearly all the big 4 and BR and some of you are still whinging, it's easy to see why some get disillusioned with the enthusiasts attitude of always going on about what isn't happening than what is ](*,).

    If you want a Pannier or some other small thing, turn up on a normal service day when they blast around on load 8 rather than a gala when they will be doubleheaded or on a 3 coach local.

    IMO the opinion about the SVR leading is true, while the NMYR can turn out around the same number of loco's, can it do the same timetable frequency with fewer passing loops and does it do all night running ?.

    The SVR will have gone to a lot of expense for this lineup and it isn't exactly flowing with cash of late, it needs our support at this time rather than criticising the pannier that's cold on shed.
     
  11. steamingyorkshire

    steamingyorkshire Well-Known Member

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    The lineup is superb and i will certainly be making my first trip to the SVR for this event. My comment about the bias statement was more to the fact they were following the approach of lots of big engines like the GC and NYMR along with others did last year and with the current credit crunch, this is going to bring in those people who aren't true enthusiasts and wanting to take their grand children out or whatever along with the big enthusiasts. I didn't mean for the bias statement to reflect the night running, i have never experienced it on any railway therefore i can't comment and i also agree with the statement about turning up on a normal day to see the smaller engines working, at least the SVR are going out of their way during this very difficult economic time to present something different.
     
  12. lil Bear

    lil Bear Part of the furniture

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    I've got to say Pete's comments really do smack you in the face with arrogance. You comment it is your opinion, yet 2 other people have voiced THEIR opinions and you have shot them down.

    Yes the SVR puts on fantastic galas, but they can't please everyone. If someone doesn't like something they don't like it, nothing you can do about it. 60 007 would rather see the smaller engines working on SVR with the Pacifics operating on the mainline. Fair enough that is his choice. It's great to see such big locos upclose though would you rather see them pottering around at 25mph or on the big railway at 60+ ?

    Simon commented that SVR is just following lines such as NYMR and GCR with getting big namers in, and tbh he does have a point. Can you deny that 3 A4s were at NYMR last April or that GCR had 4 express locos for their Autumn gala?

    SVR have run some excellent galas in the past, this ASG was definately the best gala I've been to this year, but that doesn't mean everyone else feels the same. They may also have been the first to do all night running, and are the only ones to have continued with it, but that is only one aspect of the gala. Its what you put on as a whole that counts.

    As for no other railway coming close, come and speak to me next April...
     
  13. michaelh

    michaelh Part of the furniture

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    This is fair comment - I love the SVR with the sort of engines it would have run prior to preservation. I've always particularly enjoyed the Branch Line Galas, and the last ASG was brilliant with the Dukedog and Truro ( I know it was unlikely to have been on the SVR, but it was fantastic with the early 20C stock), the prairies and the auto - i spent all 3 days there and 4 days subsequently on charters. I shall still be there for 3 days next March and enjoy the scene.
     
  14. rodders154

    rodders154 Member

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    Obviously you have not been to a WSR Spring gala. The Pride of the Great Western, Summer Saturdays in the west & S&D 40 years spring to mind.
     
  15. 60 007

    60 007 New Member

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    I fail to understand your criticism here.[/quote:1yapu2zv]

    My post:

    That's my criticism. Last I heard, the SVR was not a single track mainline, with 60mph constant running speeds and limited curvature. The SVR is a GWR backwater branchline, designed for 'panniers and prairies' with twists and turns (lets not forget built on ash!) all over so realistically no locomotive any greater than a Black 5/Hall should feature with the exception of a 28xx/8F. 88 is not too bad, yes it is a 7F but really its just a stretched 4F if you look at it properly. It has small driving wheels and bags of power - just what the SVR needs.

    On the other hand, Kings, Castles, DoG and Stanier Pacifics dont have small driving wheels, are inefficient on 25MPH running and generally were all built for one purpose - to run on the mainline!
     
  16. dmr

    dmr New Member

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    well luckily there are lots of people who would like the chance to see and travel behind lots of mainline locomotives in one location and what a location the fantastic severn valley railway. as oppose to spending 70, 80 pounds on a mainline trip with one locomotive that you probably will not get much chance to see/photograph anyway, not that i am against mainline tours they are great i have been on 3 this year.
    but the chance to see and travel with the likes of duchess of sutherland & sir nigel gresley who could complain about that and £40 for three days thanks very much severn valley railway, keep it up, and as already mentioned if you want to see smaller locomotives go on a normal day.
     
  17. hassell_a

    hassell_a Member

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    An interesting discussion. My personal preference is for interesting engines of class 5 and below running on the SVR (just how much at home did 9017 look on the Valley recently?), but I won't deny that when big engines turn out on the Valley that the crowds turn out too. So it is obviously appealling to many.

    As for the SVR following from what the NYMR & GCR did last year, what about the appearance of 34027, 6201, 6233 & 60009 together at the 2002 Autumn Steam Gala - short memories folks?
     
  18. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

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    And as for the other contributions re GCR,NYMR & SSS II - I would wager that an autumn SVR gala beats all the others by a mile in terms of the number of train movements in a 48 hour period - in fact this is now probably the most intensive Steam operated service in the World!!
     
  19. David Ward

    David Ward Well-Known Member

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    Also the SVR tend to make good use of locos in the weekend- some galas of late on other lines see more locos standing doing sod all than actually moving on a service.
     
  20. hassell_a

    hassell_a Member

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    5051 sat idle for the entire 2nd Saturday at Bishops Lydeard during the WSR spring gala last year springs to mind - a big shame IMHO, especially as it was its last year in traffic.
     

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