WSR Spring Steam Spectacular - Fri 2nd May to Mon 5th May 2025

Planning is well underway for our flagship event at the West Somerset Railway in 2025, our Spring Steam Spectacular, between Friday 2nd May and Monday 5th May.

The first visiting locomotive is confirmed and will be announced before the end of the year.

With the Railway 200 year taking place in 2025, we are planning something special for this year's event. Get the dates in your diaries. The first couple of engines agreed are crackers!

 

Bahamas has been announced this morning as the first visitor

 

The WSR is delighted to announce that LMS 'Jubilee' Class 4-6-0 no.45596 'Bahamas' is the first confirmed visiting locomotive for our Spring Steam Spectacular event, this time held between Friday 2nd May and Monday 5th May 2025. This year, the event will form a major part of the WSR's Railway 200 celebrations, with a wide range of locomotives in operation from different eras and railway companies. The event will show much of the story of steam locomotive development from the Victorian age, right up to our own 2004 built no.9351!

The engine will appear at the event courtesy of the Bahamas Locomotive Society, who have owned and cared for no.45596 since 1967. This visit will be the first for a 'Jubilee' at a WSR Gala event and will be the first occasion that one of this class has worked on the Minehead branch past Bishops Lydeard. 'Bahamas' is usually based at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway but is often found working mainline charter trains around the UK. The engine rarely appears on preserved lines, especially this far South West! We are grateful to the Bahamas Locomotive Society for agreeing to the visit of their flagship loco, after the successful appearance of their other operational loco no.1054 at our Spring event last year.

If you haven't already done so, mark the dates of the event in your diaries, we have plenty more surprises up our sleeves! And for those who like to prepare early, tickets for the event are already on sale at the link below.

https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/events/view/spring-steam-spectacular-2025

 

One of the first things I do each year is book my travel and tickets for the WSR Spring Gala, oh the anticipation...

Why? It's the WSR, and it's worth it.

 

Please make it Locomotion + carriages doing shuttles on the Norton Fitzwarren extension ...

Tom

 

72 Fenchurch from Bluebell Joins 45596 Bahamas.

 

I heard Locomotion described as "a kettle with delusions of main line grandeur" the other day...

 

And a third rail laid twixt Minehead and Dunster ( Broad gauge ) with ‘Fire fly’ and ‘Iron Duke’ running
a shuttle.

Michael Rowe

 

@SebWelsh. I read this on another forum. Are you able to confirm?

 

It was confirmed on the official WSR Facebook page.

 

Thanks Paul. Don’t do Facebook.

 

This may help. <BJ>

''We are pleased to announce the second visiting locomotive for the Spring Steam Spectacular (Friday 2nd May to Monday 5th May) as London Brighton and South Coast Railway A1 Class 'Terrier' no.72 'Fenchurch'! The locomotive will be appearing at the WSR for the first time this Spring, courtesy of the Bluebell Railway''.

 

Good to hear little old Fenchurch is getting in on the act. I remember two other Terriers working at WSR galas (32768 and 661). They worked Minehead to Blue Anchor shuttles. I assume Fenchurch will do something similar.

 

The WSR Facebook page said "She will be the first 'Terrier' to visit the WSR since 2007, and likely to be the first to work at the southern end of the line in preservation" which suggests something different is planned.

Tom

 

Tom is correct. We are planning to use the loco along the full length of the line at different times during the event, with suitably lightly loaded trains (2 coaches). If planned for a full line run, a suitable water and coal stop will be planned in at Williton. Diagramming will be similar to the use that 1054 had at our last event, mainly focused around the BL-WN shuttles. We may do BA shuttles one of the days, but they are tricky to path without affecting main services unless top and tailed. Timetable is still in the works. We've just had a bit of a setback on a different visitor which is now not available, so the timetable will need another rewrite.

She seems like a capable little engine, and managed 10 miles on two coaches without stopping for water or coal at the Mid Hants which is a good indication to us it will be ok. We plan to keep coal and water at BL and WN for it, and potentially carry some coal on the train just in case.

We are very much looking forward to hosting the engine and we are very grateful to the Bluebell for the hire.

 

Seeing as the cat has been let out the bag by the owners in Steam Railway Mag, we can provisionally confirm that GWR 2-8-0 no.2807 is the third visiting engine booked for the event. Details will be announced on our official Facebook page soon.

 

No.2807 now officially announced via our Facebook page.

We are delighted to announce GWR 28XX Class 2-8-0 No.2807 as the third visiting locomotive for our Spring Steam Spectacular 2025.

After being unable to make our 2024 event as planned, we are pleased to have been able to rearrange the visit of this GWR heavyweight for this year’s event instead. Appearing courtesy of Cotswold Steam Preservation Ltd and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, no.2807 will be in action on all four days of the Spring Steam Spectacular between Friday 2nd May and Monday 5th May.

As we celebrate Rail 200, no.2807 joins us as the oldest working GWR locomotive having been built in 1905. The engine last appeared on the WSR in Spring 2011, then in GWR Green livery. Now sporting GWR Wartime Black, the locomotive will look fantastic hauling our ever-growing 1940s Wartime period goods train as well as on passenger services. The loco will arrive in March and work regular service trains prior to the Gala, with the event being her last days in service with us before returning to her home at the GWSR.

No.2807 joins a growing roster of varied guest locomotives for our Railway 200 theme including LBSC A1 Terrier No.72 ‘Fenchurch’ and LMS Jubilee No.45596 ‘Bahamas’. We look forward to sharing more information about further guest locomotives and attractions as they are confirmed.

You can book today at our website -
https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/events/view/spring-steam-spectacular-2025



Image courtesy of Adam Ashford

 

For those who prefer to not use Facebook. News from the West Somerset Railway Facebook website. <BJ>

''We are delighted to reveal that we have a familiar sight joining the Spring Steam Spectacular line up in the form of GWR 66XX class 0-6-2 no.6695.
After performing at the 2024 event, 6695 is returning to bolster the home fleet throughout the season and subsequently, at the Spring Steam Spectacular. The 66 tank looked fantastic hauling our heritage 1940's goods train which makes a welcome return to the 2025 event; once again offering brake van rides allowing passengers to get to experience life as a goods guard of yesteryear.
Our thanks go to locomotive owners 6695 Locomotive Ltd for allowing the hire of the engine for a second year running.
6695 joins our Railway 200 themed line up including LMS Jubilee 45596 'Bahamas', LB&SCR Terrier 72 'Fenchurch', GWR 28xx 2807 and our strong home fleet.
https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/.../spring-steam...''



Mike Lanning

 

1857 and 2999 "Lady of Legend" also added to line up

 

This is turning out to be a very special gala for the WSR. <BJ>

''We are delighted to announce that GWR 'Saint' Class 4-6-0 no.2999 'Lady of Legend' will be making a welcome return to the WSR in 2025, with the locomotive joining the home fleet in operating normal services from April to August. The engine will also star at the Spring Steam Spectacular, between Friday 2nd May and Monday 5th May, where it will join up to 9 other locomotives in our biggest Gala event of the Railway 200 year.
As part of the Gala event only, we will be renaming no.2999 to represent one of her long-lost classmates, which will be the first occasion this has been seen since GWR days. Our Gala Team have thought long and hard about which name we should rename the engine to, but we have not reached an agreement. So excitingly we will be putting the choice to you! In the coming days, we will put up a further post with four options, one for each of our Gala Team members, on which our supporters can vote for their choice. After the cut-off point, the name and number with the most votes will be used on the loco during the event! Keep an eye out for this post coming soon.
The Saint joins a star-studded line up of locomotives, with up to ten in action on any day (subject to availability). We still have one more visiting engine to announce this Friday!

Our full loco line up is below''-
- LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 no.45596 'Bahamas'
- GWR 2800 2-8-0 no.2807
- GWR 2900 4-6-0 no.2999 'Lady of Legend'
- LBSCR A1 'Terrier' 0-6-0 no.72 'Fenchurch'
- TBC 0-6-0
- GWR 6600 0-6-2T no.6695
- Hudswell Clark 0-6-0T no.1857
- WSR Mogul 2-6-0 no.9351
- GWR 7800 Manor no.7812 'Erlestoke Manor'
- BR(W) 7800 Manor no.7828 'Odney Manor' (subject to return from repairs in time)
- Andrew Barclay Fireless 0-4-0 no.1984 'Boots No.1' (subject to completion and testing)



Thanks to Mike Lanning for the photograph