'Polish Prairie' 5521 running dates in Oct/Nov 09

Bill Parker's 'Small Prairie' number 5521, that has visited parts of Europe over the past two years, will be operating the Dean Forest Railway's service trains on Sundays 11th, 18th & 25th October 2009. She will then be attending the Avon Valley Railway's Gala on Sunday 1st November and also running the Saturday after on a driver course and 'Pie & Pint' special.

http://www.deanforestrailway.co.uk/ - DFR site (News column on left with some details)
http://www.avonvalleyrailway.org/ - AVR site (News>Updates>Oct 7th)

 

5521 will also return to the DFR for December to work the Santa Specials and the steam hauled 'Mince Pie Specials' on Monday 28th December only.

 

I take it that the leak is fixed cos last time I saw it, it was sat looking sorry for itself in the shed at the NNR.

 

Yeah she ran at the DFR last weekend

 

Yeh i saw her sat behind 34081 at NNR steam gala (Sunday) when she failed

 

She was p*****g water into the firebox. Her own sprinkler system!

 

Does anyone have any details of her 'pie and pint' working at the AVR on November 7th? Sounds tempting...

 

Think I shall be maiking the effort to visit the Avon Valley on 1st November. Anyone able to recommend the best method if travelling by train ?

 

Nice to see it running again.

 

Try a constructive answer, instead...

The AVR reccomends that you get on a train to Keynsham, and bus it from there; whilst it is technically a little geographically closer, the train and bus services are infrequent - most trains blast through Keynsham nonstop.

The way I find works best is to get the train to Bath Spa (regularly served by trains from Padd, Cardiff etc etc...), and then bus to Bitton - which is roughly the same distance from Bitton as Keynsham, but far better served by public transport.

When you arrive at Bath, make your way to the bus station (turn left, and you can't miss it). Take the 632 bus (or 332 Mon-Sat) BUT make sure you ask for a fare to Cherry Gardens, NOT Bitton. Do not be tempted to get off in the centre of Bitton (the White Hart pub), but carry on for another quarter of a mile or so, until the busstop called Cherry Gardens; this is where Bitton station is.

When you get off, the railway is around 100 yards away, with the railway overbridge clearly visible ahead.

(NB If the bus goes under the railway, ring the bell, you've gone too far!).

I always buy a 'First Student South West Day Pass', which allows unlimited travel for just over a fiver, for the day around Bristol/Bath (with valid student ID); which is a fraction cheaper than a bog-standard return from Bath to Cherry Gardens. May be worth looking into the costs of day tickets, although the price difference will be marginable; around the five to six pounds mark is about right.

Hope that helps mate. Sunday timetable for 632 bus is at http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/sou...rvice=332&routeid=768751&operator=3&source=sp . Nice to see I'm not the only one who'll be going to this gala by public transport...

Cheers.

 

5521 arrived at AVR at lunch time today.
Pie and Pint evening is 7th November cost £10. Booking is essential.

 

What time does the Pie and Pint evening start/finish please Ken? Presume its just a few trips up and down the line?

I only ask, as I'm restricted to public transport to get there, so need to know in advance before booking. Any suggestions gratefully welcomed.

Glad to hear she's safely arrived! May pop down tomorrow for a spin on the DMU, to have a look at her....

 

Any news on the gala yet? I'm in Bristol this weekend so will be heading over for this. What time are the first and last trains?

 

When will 5521 be given a test run before the gala?

 

Pie and Pint evening first train would be 19.00hrs last train probably be back to Bitton by 2130 approx.

Gala info now on AVR website at http://www.avonvalleyrailway.org/events/gla.html
including timetable.

 

5521 will probably have a clearance tests on Friday 30th October.

 

No.5521 warming up nicely this evening after a few adjustments were made earlier in the day. Hopefully a clearance test tomorrow after lunchtime . <BJ>

 

No.5521 has hauled a 12 wagon goods train today at the Avon Valley Railway and a few passenger trains. Passenger numbers appear to be generally low. <BJ>

 

I went down to the AVR today and went on a few trains. There was a quite a few peopole around but not that many on the trains. The weather forecast probably didn't help although it cleared up in the afternoon. I felt the timetable could have been better though. Whilst having lots of different trains running including passenger, freight and the DMU was written in such a way that if you went on the passsenger trains, you had at least a 25min wait at either Oldland Common or Avon Riverside with absolutely nothing to do whilst the freight or DMU had a run. I was there for about four hours and only one and a half round trips due to the long waits at each end. A shame really as I would have stayed longer but got fed up of hanging around.

James

 

Agree with James's comments. Very strange timetable, far too much use of the DMU and not enough use of 5521/other locos. Last gala I attended (53809) I am sure there were two sets of passenger stock out? There certainly seemed to be far more passenger trains then? Freight train looked lovely though and one that a lot of bigger lines would be proud of.

I am sure passenger numbers were low due to the bad weather - awful day until late pm.

CEGB No.9 looks far better without the NE and Works number on the tank. Any chance of wasp stripes as per her time at Hams Hall?

Regards,