Churnet Valley Railway Gala 4th - 6th May 2024 Featuring 75014 & Pendennis Castle

We will be holding a Steam Gala on the 4th, 5th and 6th of May this year which will form part of the 100th Birthday celebrations for 4079 Pendennis Castle.

We have 2 guest locomotives confirmed;

• Standard 4 No. 75014 from the Dartmouth Steam Railway (Arrives in January for 4 months)
• No. 4079 Pendennis Castle from the Didcot Railway Centre (visiting for all of May)

All operational locomotives from the home fleet should be in action as well, all locos subject to the usual caveats.

We are just finalising the date and we will update this later this week.

We have some exciting plans for the gala, updates will be provided ASAP

 

What is the current homefleet at Cheddleton?

 

2x S160's 5197 & 6046. The third, 3278, is expected into traffic at some stage in 2024, no idea if that's expected to be in time for the gala. Not sure if the Tkh tank is still in traffic.

 

The Gala dates have been released as the 4th, 5th and 6th of May, the website will and social media will updated shortly.

 

Excellent, I was hoping you'd go for the early May bank holiday rather than the late one! Definitely well overdue a visit to North Staffordshire, so that's pencilled in. Is that the full line-up or anything else left to announce?

 

75014 arrived at the railway yesterday, the first 75xxx on the line since the late 1960's!

Subject to testing the loco will be in traffic for the start of our operating season on the 3rd and 4th of February running to Ipstones.

 

This looks like a fantastic event, I will certainly be making a visit, a single chimney castle on their 1-45 gradient will be loud!

 

Is 4079 staying for after the gala?

 

4079 will be with us until the end of May and will be running on services throughout the month.

 

The gala page is now live on our website, there is a discount for pre booked tickets;

Steam Gala - Churnet Valley Railway

 

The fares table makes interesting reading. Can you tell us more about the move to ban 2 & 3 year olds?

 

A typo that will be corrected!

 

A nice bit of footage from 75014's first weekend with us, a little taster of what to expect at our gala!

75014 'Braveheart' Tackles The 1/45 To Ipstones Loop - Churnet Valley Railway - YouTube

 

Wow! That reminds me of when she was at the NYMR. This is going to be an amazing gala!

 

Gala timetables now live on the Churnet Valley website https://www.churnetvalleyrailway.co.uk/events/steam-gala.html#landing-content

Sat 4th & Sun 5th May: https://cvr-uploads.s3.eu-west-2.am...nday May Steam Gala Public Timetable 2024.pdf

Mon 6th May: https://cvr-uploads.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/Monday 6th May Steam Gala Public Timetable 2024 .pdf

 

5197 has been on a test run over the last week and is all ready for the gala.

Pendennis Castle arrives on Tuesday ready for the gala.

Pre booked tickets are still being offered at a discounted rate and can be booked online: Steam Gala May 2024 - Churnet Valley Railway

It is our first steam gala for 5 years, hopefully lots of members on here are able to support it!

 

Our beautiful station alongside the Canal at Consall now has its second platform ready for use at the Gala following a major restoration : Consall Stations Unique Platform Completion - Churnet Valley Railway

Trains will pass here at the gala.

 

I hadn't realised it had been out of use, great to have it back for the gala then. Will there be much to see or do there, other than the obvious answer of the Black Lion? I expect I'll probably get off and have a mooch around anyway, maybe walk the canal to Cheddleton or Froghall.

 

Consall will feature passing services and there's always the attraction of the pub!

Cheddleton will be a hive of activity with loco preparation, servicing etc along with the 4F, 44422 on display in the bay platform