South Devon Railway | Winter Steam Gala | 3rd-5th January 2025

Visiting locos
2807 from GWSR
1940 "Henbury" from Bristol Harbour Railway

Homefleet
6412 - final appearance prior to withdrawal for overhaul
5526

Timetable and prices in the link
https://www.southdevonrailway.co.uk/visit-us/whats-on/winter-steam-gala/

 

Cracking line up!

 

I'm not a member of the SDR, but thought I'd mention this event - starring the GWR 2-8-0 no. 2807 and also the Peckett 0-6-0ST 'Henbury' which rarely leaves her home at Bristol. The SDR website gives a WTT so you can plan the day in detail.

It is nice to know of a steam event to mitigate the post- Christmas blues!

 

According to the SDR Facebook page, Henbury has failed. The 09 will work the morning goods train. 2807 will work the 0845 Buckfastleigh to Totnes and 0955 Totnes to Buckfastleigh.

Sent from my SM-A137F using Tapatalk

 

1000: Our engineering staff are still working hard to rectify the fault with Henbury. Henbury’s next booked workings - 1125 BFL-STV, 1225 STV-BFL, 1330 BFL-STV and 1430 STV-BFL will be worked by Class 09 D3721.

 

Currently about 40 minutes behind schedule.

 

Update on Henbury

 

Was 90 mins down on the timetable by the end of the afternoon. Lots of little things combining, as far as I could tell. (Signalling, frozen water supply,...)
But fantastic weather. Much easier to be standing around in the sun!
Hopefully everything is now sorted for a weekend of trouble free running.

 

Winter Steam Gala Update

We are very sorry for the issues faced today, Friday 3rd January, during the first day of our Winter Steam Gala. Unfortunately a number of issues conspired against us which resulted in changes to the timetable and late running. This included the failure of Henbury this morning, along with the extreme cold causing a number of issues such as signalling failures throughout the day, the loss of our water supply at Totnes, issues with steam heating and some electrical issues. Despite all usual frost precautions having been taken, the extreme cold and lack of warmth during the day meant problems continued.

We appreciate the feedback and understand we could have done better with keeping you updated despite making regular updates on social media, and will ensure this is taken forward for future events. We hope you have been able to enjoy the day despite the challenges and thank you for supporting us.

We are sorry to advise that locomotive Henbury, which was repaired today by our engineers working relentlessly through the morning, and was going to work its final booked trains this evening, then failed again (with a different issue).

We are currently working through options to repair the locomotive and very much hope to see it work during the gala.

To prevent last minute cancellations or changes with the current lack of availability of Henbury, our team have worked through the night to create a new timetable for tomorrow, Saturday 4th January. This is available in the photo below, and paper copies will be available on the day from our booking offices. This still sees 2807, 5526 and 6412 work an intensive service of passenger trains, with 2807 and 5526 working our main carriages sets and 6412 now working auto trains on both parts of the line.

As soon as Henbury is repaired we will get it back into traffic and will update you with its workings.

Thank you for your understanding and once again, we really appreciate your support of our event.

 

Timetable updated again on Facebook for any going tomorrow- no show for Henbury sadly.

 

It was the novelty value of Henbury that made me pick the South Devon over Swanage and the Severn Valley today, and though I'd seen the timetable update so knew Henbury was out of action I stuck with the SDR as I'd already bought my ticket and I was keen to catch 2807 back in its normal guise too. No regrets at all, had a great (if wet and cold) afternoon, and very much enjoyed the end of day after-dark running in particular.

The South Devon feels like it's hit on a really neat formula for its post-Christmas gala (Polar Express loco, something else and a resident or two) as last year's event was just as good. And the gala booklet trailed an Easter gala as well, which is a very welcome return.

 

Am a little behind on sorting photos from this event, but two that I have sorted show 5526 on the second Buckfastleigh departure on gala day 1 at a rather frost Caddaford, the second 6412 accelerating away from the speed slack at Dartington, reflected in the rather still waters of the Dart below.

 

Despite the hiccup with Henbury, very enjoyable event.