South Devon Railway Winter Steam Gala: 29th - 31st December 2023

Apparently when I goo back ‘um Are doh half spake posh

 

Cracking day out at the SDR today, can't believe it is nearly 5 years since my last visit, a return was long overdue!
Volunteers very friendly and helpful, and some very noisy performances from the Manor especially.

Weather was excellent, mostly blue skies with just a couple of light showers and even the odd rainbow which some of the linesiders may have got lucky with!

A fair turnout but not massively busy, with plenty of free seats on all the trains I went on.
Timetable was about 25min adrift for most of the day, but that seems normal for most galas these days.
Was good to have a bit of variety with the double-header and the autocoach out.

Hopefully it proves a worthwhile event for the railway, as it's nice having a proper enthusiast event this time of year. Certainly a good way to blow away the 'Twixmas' cobwebs and was definitely worth the long train ride to get there.

 

Weather was a bit of a bother for the photographer, lots of lens tissue use. But photo opportunities abounded. Had a good time.

 

Some great light on the Friday morning of the gala down at Waterworks for 6412 (the bulleid coach may have been edited out...). A really enjoyable day out with a lot packed in to the timetable even with just 3 locos.