Watercress line diesel gala 11-13 July 2025

I actually thought that for a gala the timekeeping was generally excellent, despite a signalling issue at Ropley requiring trains to be flagged through manually for a while. Even had a couple of trains arrive a minute or so early!
Attributable I think to sensible station dwell and/or turn round times and some slick work by crews in attaching and detaching locos.
So credit definitely due there to those responsible and a lesson that could be learnt by a few other gala organisers!
The hydraulics were also the stars for me and yes, the noise and acceleration of the Warship following the token exchange at Ropley on the non-stop run was something very special!
An excellent day all round and hopefully the next 2 days will go equally well.

 

I made the 0848 with the DH 20s and all went to plan. An excellent day staring the Hydraulics. Bus conections perfect but pity about SWT this afternoon. Presumably wrong kind of heat. Brilliant organisation MHR thanks. Seemed very strange standing on KX bridge but not a steam loco in view

Don

 

I would add that 1015 was very smoky. Injectors?

Don

 

Thought the Warship gave the best run. Timekeeping was spot on all day. Amazing.

 

Our Warship don on the 1350 out of Alton was strangely erratic with speed falling to 12.5 mph after Butts Junction before recovering to a steady 26 mph

 

25mph.

 

After finishing my shift on PW work (hot line inspection walking up from Alton to M4M) I spent the rest of yesterday riding and photographing, finishing off with a couple of pints of real ale. A great gala, chatted to many guests and also some fellow volunteers, some for the first time in years. Families about, sunshine and a really relaxed vibe.

"Western Champion" runs into Medstead and Fourmarks by Stephen Morley, on Flickr

 

Some pics from a hot & tiring day yesterday.......

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54651845973/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54651926895/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54651846258/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54651927110/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/duty_druid/54651928210/in/dateposted-public/

 

I think the really hot weather must have got to this die hard steam enthusiast in recent weeks as I ended up spending two days (Friday and Sunday)at the Diesel Gala!

Joking aside I was tempted by the excellent Laira lineup booked by the railway.
Highlights were the express runs with the Warship on Friday and the Western today, the Western/Warship doubleheader on Friday and some very "enthusiastic" driving of the Class 46 on the last train from Alton to Alresford at the end of the final day of the Gala. The miniature railway was also great fun as part of the recent extension was in use for the diesel hauled services. Our return run from the extension provided some excellent parallel running with the Warship as it entered Ropley with a service for Alton.

It was great to see the event so busy on both of the days I visited. I can remember visiting past Diesel galas where there appeared to be more staff and volunteers than passengers.

It was a great idea to have the Ale & Cider festival as part of the Gala. I hope this becomes a regular fixture in the calendar.
Ice creams/lollies were also proving very popular in the sweltering conditions. The Bedford ice cream van at Ropley was sold out of most stuff when we went to have a look.

I visited with my Dad and Sister and we all really enjoyed the event.
Thank you to everyone involved for another memorable event this year.
Below are some shots from Friday and Sunday:

Friday:









Sunday:






Sent from my XQ-BT52 using Tapatalk

 

I never saw a Western at Woking, on normal service running, but did see warships, on the Exeter runs, and occasionally a hymec on an evening freight as far as Woking yard, So, that got me wondering, Did warships ever run over the Mid hants prior to closure, with diverted exeter trains, when the line through Basingstoke was closed for electrification work ? As they were working some exeter services before the end of steam .

 

Now the dust has settled a little bit after the weekend I just wanna say a massive thanks to all those involved with the gala, all the volunteers and loco owners and providers for what made a fantastic weekend.

From what I’ve read online everyone had a great time, the few round trips I did were excellent.
All the feedback I’ve seen has been positive.

Any suggestions for next year feel free to post and we will take them in

 

Next year, Andy, how about another Southern EMU themed event, with the hap, MLV 4 TC with 33/1 4 vep, with a 73, with push /pull working

 

Westerns did appear at Woking on various stone trains, although I never photographed one there. I sort of recall that the trains of tipplers used to run from Merehead or Whatley Quarries ran round at Woking before preceding to Winchfield.
Warships over the Alps? I'm sure I have seen a photo or two by Chris Small of Warships somewhere over the line. I'm afraid that I don't have time to mine back through 30+ years of Mid Hants News.

Cheers, Neil

 

Cant remember if I did but I will say that in my experience the Warships performed well on the Waterloo-Salisbury-Exeter services and were more reliable than the 50s which followed.

 

After the first of the 50s arrived at Bristol Bath Road, a driver asked me if I knew why the locos were called 50s. He told me that it was because they had a 50-50 chance of pulling a train

After the locos had been modified they proved to be a very good loco. [BJ]

 

Some of them may feature in our plans for next year!

just seen some financial figures quoted from the weekend. I won’t go into them but they have far exceeded what we expected.

 

I had many miles behind them including a number of 100 mph efforts (on an 85/90 mph railway) but also some failures on the road. The end of steam was the excuse for 100 mph runs but with the 50s it was just showing of knowing I was using my stop watch. It was a very different world in the 1980s

Don