MHR Autumn Steam Gala 6th-8th October 2023

Only options were GCR or NNR so it was likely to be GCR so hardly a secret indeed

 

According to the website it looks like 401 'Vulcan' has been added to the gala, with another guest to be announced too

Five visitors for a gala (even if one is long term) is quite something in this day and age

 

What a line up!

 

The facebook post announcing this states it is "the final visiting locomotive", so I wonder if they've forgotten to remove the sentence about another guest loco from the web page.

Still, four visiting locos is pretty good

 

No mention of the S15 on the website list. Standby loco, off somewhere else or currently out of service?

 

506 Will be on standby for the weekend.

 

Thanks.

 

The latest tweet about the Gala from the Watercress Line X feed also states that Vulcan is the final visiting locomotive.



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Looking at making my first trip to the railway for this gala, just trying to work out the best day to visit. looking at previous timetables it's the same across all 3 days, is that likely to be the case this year?

 

Totally depends, but tends to be just the loco allocations that change on different days but some galas not even that changes. If there is any later running into the evening that tends to be on Friday or Saturday only.

 

Timetable is out on the website!
https://watercressline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Autumn-Steam-Gala-2023-Timetable.pdf

 

Nice to see a mix of services booked in (short shuttles, mixed trains, expresses etc.) 1054 seems a bit wasted doing just three Arlesford-Ropley shuttles and one double headed full line trip but I suppose that may be down to its age and request of the custodians not to overwork it maybe? No. 72 going over the Alps will be something to enjoy.

Surprisingly, no Vulcan on the goods set!

 

Thought the same, I would have thought Fenchurch to be the one to stick to the Ropley shuttles and 1054 to do a full line run. A welcome surprise but it would have been nice to see the coal tank do more.

 

It is worth noting that Vulcan does run on the 'mixed' set which features freight but not a full length set I don't expect.

 

Fenchurch over the Alps will be something alright

 

Water capacity?

 

Water available at Alresford, Ropley and Alton. I've not studied the WTT in detail to calculate dwell times to enable watering, but assuming the Timetable Committee have thought of this

 

Has coped with 4 Mets and roughly load 3 up to East Grinstead only using around half a tank at the Bluebell so is a capable engine on a ruling 1:75 gradient with a little steeper gradients after Horsted Keynes and Kingscote so should in theory cope. I expect top ups at both Ropley and Alton will take place

 

Someone mentioned something similar on here or on another site about its visit to the SVR, its really not like taking something round to your mates 00 gauge train set and chucking whatever stock you have behind it and ‘let’s see how it goes’ it’s all going to be thought out and planned in advance.
I do think that some of us that apparently know better should maybe appreciate that… jus’ sayin’

 

I hope it’s ok but that long climb out of Alton is far more of a challenge than anything on the Bluebell. I will be on it all being well so we will see