GCR Winter Gala. 27-29 January 2023

I took that back to Loughborough too, then took 506 again for a final round trip, but we got held outside Rothley for quite a while on the return.

 

My compilation from the event yesterday. The timetable issues and the Class 45 failing resulted in a completely different video than I had planned, but it was still a good show from the lineside:

 

I went down to Loughborough yesterday Saturday 28th January, for travel with a rover ticket, every service looked to be jammed with standing commonplace, even ‘Iris’ was standing room only, everything in steam, 48305, 73082 Camelot, 73156, 92212, 78018,78019 & 506, ‘Iris’ & class 101 dmu deputising for failed D123, and frames & tender of 34039 Boscastle on display at Quorn
73156 & 73082 Camelot & 506 (the 2 visiting locos) alongside each other at Loughborough
https://tinyurl.com/4mzn5w69
M79900 Derby lightweight unit formally 'Iris' Derby test car Loughborough station yard
https://tinyurl.com/2p84ecbt
D123 Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry which had failed and was unable to do its rostered services,
https://tinyurl.com/4twn36md

Neil

 

You have to question running Iris on a gala day.

 

JBTEvans, Yes, I see your point, it maybe would have been better to roster Iris during the shoulders of the day rather than the busy periods. It is a lovely little DMU though, has been very well preserved and I did enjoy my somewhat crowded ride.

 

"Iris" seems to be booked for the first weekend of Mountsorrel-Leicester North runs at the end of February but not for the other weekends, so I'm assuming it is going back to the Ecclesbourne Railway after that.
It's stayed at the GCR much longer than I was expecting it to so that has been a bit of a bonus on a couple of my visits there in the past few months.

 

Have to echo that.

I was all day Friday and upto 15:00 Saturday.

As I have posted elsewhere, and quoting myself, I can not say this was one of the best galas have been to. And, as far as GCR steam galas concerned, the worst.

For one reason – crowding. Although overcrowding is the more appropriate term for Saturday.

The locos + timetable + service etc was fine, no issues there, just the crowding.

In one sense good to see such a huge turn out, but it was OTT IMHO. Not enjoyable.

Very busy Friday from start (first one Up full and standing) _ maybe the attractions of the visiting 30506 and 73082 drew out the anorak fraternity, as both their first runs (73082 was first train of the day) were rammed; things thinned out by about 15:00 i.e. a TSO bay to self – and hardly 50 passengers on 17:00 Up with 2x73ooo (which was ~80 late both ways)

Saturday was just plain over crowded. No other word for it. Trains and platforms. Right from go.

A general criticism I have of galas here and elsewhere is on the very days when the largest quantity of people appear the platforms get occupied with sales stands. No matter what the argument is about essential fund raising, it is a throttle on passenger movement.

And while I suppose passenger numbers are unpredictable, 20:20 hindsight for Saturday says the single car 79900 was not a good idea; I could not get on 79900 on my moves (although this was not essential it would have been a bonus move if it had worked out).

 

Perhaps more than most the GCR is an easily accessible railway from both the north and the south and for many a two hour journey or less. It was certainly an easy day for me when I lived in West London, only about 300 yards not on dual carriageway or motorway.
So you get a lot of day visitors plus those that stay over like many galas. Then add the double track, lots of trains and hence locos and it starts to create a perfect storm.
The interesting thing is with the reduction in services everywhere, if enthusiasts will just focus on galas and overcrowding will become the norm at them everywhere. Not good if that is the case as even pre Covid I was avoiding Saturday and Sunday at the GCR for travelling due to the overcrowding. I am past paying £30 or £40 to not get a seat on top of travel and hotel costs.

 

Yes there was plenty of people on Rothley station Sat afternoon ,please see photo' of 78019 .I've also posted 92214 ,soon after pulling away from the 5mph slack on the Loughborough' side of .Quorn

 

I don't think i have seen if anyone has mentioned it but on Saturday when i squeezed onto Iris they actually had a tea/coffee service i felt sorry for the guy working it having to squeeze past everybody on board delivering, yes delivering cups of hot drinks!!

 

A few from Saturday:

 

Despite the theme being not my favourite, I thought this gala was a great success
Nice seeing 506 and 73082 off their respective railways, return of 78019, newly painted 92214 and the usual culverts.

Well done Great Central for another masterpiece.

 

Do have to agree with the crowding sentiments. Of the trains I did travel on, I managed a seat once, which on the one hand is good for the railway in terms of numbers of people and revenue, but on the other, can make for a difficult experience for those on the trains. While I appreciate Iris as a piece of heritage stock, having a one coach train going around seems like a misstep. Whenever I saw it it was full and standing with people wedged in, so steered clear of it!

Passenger capacity aside, it seemed somewhat ironic that the things that failed to cause issues at the steam gala were the diesels!

I can't remember the last time I attended a GCR gala that didn't run very late, on this occasion it had reached 60 minutes down by the time I left yesterday. Of course you can't plan for failures, whether that be with locomotives or infrastructure, but I always seem to come away from one of these with the feeling nothing has been done to try and improve on potential issues that can cause delays, whether that be locos coming off shed late, shunt moves taking longer than planned etc. I admire the railway for being ambitious with their events, and you can't get the mainline experience anywhere else, but sometimes (and it might just be me who thinks this) it feels like TOO much. Obviously when it all goes off without a hitch then great, but from my experience that invariably doesn't seem to be the case, and trains end up getting cancelled to try and make back time, seemingly with little effect to any delay that has been incurred. I know I'm just one person, and I'm not saying "I'm never coming back to the GCR again", far from it, though it does mean I will take a more considered view when I decide to return.

Ramblings over, some photos from the day.

 

Yes, it is a very nice unit, rode it at the DFR last year, no such overcrowding then luckily!

 

Similar story with the two gentlemen trying to raise funds to bridge the gap on the first service I took with 92214 early in the day, who had to squeeze their way past standing passengers, whilst also trying to take donations.

 

Iris is visiting so I think people would be disappointed if they didn't have the opportunity to travel on it before it leaves. Therefore it sounds like no matter which they choose, they are going to upset some people. They don't know how many people are going to attend the gala so can't plan either way.

Personally, I went on Saturday and really enjoyed myself. Primary reason for enjoying it that was just going with the flow and not getting stressed about getting on certain trains or trying to take specific photos. I just did what I fancied at the time and only started thinking about plans when it was getting time to head home to ensure I didn't get trapped anywhere.

I have been to GCR Galas where the timetable hasn't lost time. One quirk of the double track being that one service can be late going one way but the other way can be ontime. I think they are just what galas should be, high action and very busy. If they drop time to the timetable that is all part of the fun for me.

 

I'm sorry, but that's just stupid and dangerous!

 

This was pretty much my attitude to the day and why I still had a very enjoyable time.

I didn't really have a clear plan either and mostly just wanted to sample as much of the home fleet as possible and the stations, but as busy as the trains were, I got lucky grabbing a seat a few times and being on the younger side, the times when I ended up standing didn't mean as much of an issue to myself as it would say, a family or someone older or less able than myself.

 

Maybe I'm just used to SVR galas, but the overcrowding didn't particularly bother me. It was the timekeeping that disappointed for me. We had planned to stay to the last yesterday but decided to just do Iris to Rothley and back to Quorn in the dark. It was a nice run actually.

 

I really don't mind the timetable getting behind as I think that should be expected at a Gala because you want it to be busy. The alternative is to build in lots of recovery time into the timetable and then there would be complaints of it not feeling busy enough. I've been to galas at other railways where you arrive ontime into a station and have long wait until you are on your way again. That's not a 'gala' to me.

Even on a branchline like, for example, the North Norfolk, I want a feeling like it's a Summer Saturday. It's no use running to sleepy branchline timings when there are hundreds of people around the railway as that instantly kills that atmosphere. You want a well attended event so design a busy timetable and expect to loose time on it.