SVR Autumn Steam Gala

As you've said British Railways rather than BR I'm saying 4247

Jon

 

And what happens if someone guesses correctly? Will you confirm or deny?
Seriously sunshine you can’t have it both ways.

 

Happy to dicusss your issue on a direct message if you wish. I did try to message but was unable to.

If somebody guessed correctly I would neither confirm nor deny till a contract was signed and announcement made. Thats as simple as. There are owners of locos out there who wouldn’t like that.

I’m not having it both ways as you suggest.

 

Aitch, you’ve been asked very nicely to take down a post from another member of a loco owning group at the same railway your based at and said of them of ‘leaking’ information before contracts have been signed, there’s been a hint of something else what might be showing up next month, as you say nothing wrong with a bit of guess work but then you say nobody’s ‘guessed correctly’
so how’s about biting your tongue and saying sod all until as you’ve said contracts have been signed and agreed?
Double standards very much comes to mind.

Just out of interest do SVR staff still get a Saphos discount btw?

 

I have. I don’t dispute that I’ve been asked. I do dispute whether it was leaked or not. My opinion is that it went on social media, through a non official SVR post, before a contract was signed. So to me that’s a leak. If you want to message me I’ll happily discuss further.

There is no issue in saying nobody has guessed correctly. That’s just dangling the same carrot the SVR dangled in the official post. A bit of teasing and guess work. That’s something several railways do. No harm in it, and if nobody has got it right, no harm in saying. Theres no risk in that.

I’m happy to say nothing if that will help you. But that applies accross the board so the little snippets of info people have been enjoying will also go (Something we know has proved popular by the way).

I’ve no idea where the Saphos comment comes in to this thread, but I’ve never had a discount on any of the trips I’ve done if that answers your query.

 

Back to some proper gala talk -

We seem to have pretty fixed loco directions now.
North - 35006, 75069, 4930, 813, NCB 49, 1450, 7714 and TBA visitor.
South - 73082, 7802, 13268
35006 will be turned south at some stage during the weekend, as it hauls the last train on the Sunday as a special as shown on the PTT.
75069/7714 will find themselves turned Sunday as part of Christmas prep when we have our locos south facing.

PTT as posted on the website earlier shows all trains but no locos yet. When visitor TBA is announced locos will go on. As best as possible sets and locos have been matched, but obviously it’s never straightforward.

Goods train runs in pick-up style on Thursday, and fixed formation for the weekend. Very much looking forward to seeing this one with both home and visitors alike.

 

Haha! People will be telling me off for leaking that Xmas is happening soon!

No it’s not a secret. It is indeed 2 home based engines. However there is currently some discussion as to which pair due to fire risk mitigation, so I won’t promise which pair just yet. As far as I’m aware once the last visitor is announced and some fire risk discussion has taken place we should be pretty good to announce the PTT with locos.

 

47298 announced as final visitor after contracts completed

 

A great line up, something for everyone. Very much looking forward to sampling 49, however all the guests are red pen for me despite having a fairly full book. 2 day ticket booked last week.

Now to hope for some nice gentle, long spells of rain in the run up to soak everything then dry weather for the event!

 

An interesting and varied lineup. Hopefully the weather will play ball.

 

Hopefully should be able to get Public Timetable with Locos out over the next few days.

Also a highlights of each day should be put out soon. There’s quite a few!

Just need to arrange the rain now!

 

Theres nothing stopping us watering our lineside.

 

What to look forward to

Thursday 18 September:

• GWR 4930 Hagley Hall, and a rake of 8 GWR Collett Coaches, will run an express service from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth. This will be a launch train for Wheelchair Accessible Buffet Coach 9581. A launch of 9581 will take place at Kidderminster Station prior to the departure of the train.
• LMS Mogul 13268 will work a Pick-Up Goods train. The train will be used to form up the Goods rake for the weekend trains, allowing for plenty of shunting to be seen.
• GWR 1450 will work with BR Livery Auto Coach W238 Chaffinch. Both 1450 and Chaffinch will be turned before the event, giving way to the rarely seen sight of Chaffinch facing South.
• Jinty 47298 will find itself at the head of 6 LMS Coaches working two full round trips of the line.
• Merchant Navy 35006 Peninsular & Oriental S. N. Co. will work the first of the weekends ‘Boat Trains’, with the 1300 departure from Kidderminster being ‘Holland American’.

Friday 19 September:

• 60 hours of non stop running commences at 0635 as 7802 Bradley Manor works its way down from Bridgnorth Light Engine to pick up its first workings. An 0700 Goods from Bridgnorth will follow, with an 0730 passenger departure from Kidderminster.
• NCB 49 brings a 4 coach local to the South End of the line for the day, whilst Jinty 47298 takes a 2 coach local to the North End. The Hampton Loade-Bridgnorth local has a different engine on it every day for this event, something we haven’t tried before!
• NCB 11 and NCB 49 share the Goods working today, with the one carrying out local work whilst the other handles the Goods.
• Todays Expresses are in the hands of 35006 on the 1025 ex Kidderminster with the ‘Cunarder’, whilst 7802 works the 1740 ex Bridgnorth.
• 4930 Hagley Hall and 13268 find themselves heading up the first of the night trains later in the evening, a duty they will carry out all weekend.

Saturday 20 September:

• Overnight running draws to a close around 0600 and the railway wakes in to full flow again. NCB 11 works an early morning Goods train from Bridgnorth, and today shares Goods duties with Jinty 47298.
• The two Southern Stars get the express limelight today. 35006 finds itself on the 1025 ex Kidderminster at the head of the ‘Bournemouth Belle’, whilst 73082 Camelot gets to take charge of the 1740 ex Bridgnorth.
• NCB 49 will get its chance on the Hampton Loade-Bridgnorth local.
• Jinty 47298 takes its rake of 4 MK1 coaches for an evening return trip to Bridgnorth.
• The first of the weekends Double Headers takes place, with 1450/7714 pairing up from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth, whilst 813 swaps for 1450 for the return run.

Sunday 21 September:

• The finale to our 60th Anniversary Autumn Steam Gala! Once again around 0600 the railway gets back to being busy following the relative ease of the night trains. 7802 Bradley Manor brings that early morning Great Western Goods down from Bridgnorth, and works the Goods for most of the day. 7802 will be our 5th, and final, engine on the Goods over the weekend.
• Double heading is very much the order of the day for our tank engines. NCB 49 and Jinty 47298 will work a morning round trip together, before we turn to the Backworth Unit pairing of NCB 11/NCB 49 for the afternoon round trip.
• 1450 will become our 4th loco for the North End Local, swapping its pair of Auto Coaches for our 2 MK1’s.
• 35006 finds itself at the head of yet another express, except this time its the final train of the gala! The 1910 from Bridgnorth, formed of 9 Maroon MK1’s will head Up the Valley, running as the Atlantic Coast Express.

 

And that’s just the highlights!

PTT with locos should soon be available online. Shaping up to be a cracker

 

Can't wait for this one!

 

Over 1000 tickets sold already. Nicely ahead of this point last year by a healthy number. All days looking equally as busy.

PTT with Locos is coming I promise. Just one or two last minute bits to sort.

 

Autumn Steam Gala 2025 PTT V2 (270825) (split up for web).xlsx LOCO ALLOX Now available