Spa Valley Railway - Branchline Gala - 24th & 25th October

The Spa Valley is holding a branchline event next weekend featuring Jinty 47493 and Pannier 7715. It had been hoped that the event would feature a freshly overhauled engine but this has been delayed a bit longer.

All trains will consist of correctly matched coaches. The green set will feature the recently outshopped CCT van at times during the day. The Jinty will also appear on the maroon Mark 1 set for a couple of trips each day.

Hourly service from 10am until 17:00 each day from Tunbridge Wells with departures at 31 minutes past the hour from Groombridge.

This is the last special event of the 2009 Spa Valley season. Come along and see the progress being made on the Eridge extension.

The weekend is also the last gala event to see 7715 in its GWR livery before its repainted into LT Maroon in the New Year.

Matt

 

Is 7715 staying on the railway for a bit longer then?

 

The contract on 7715 has been extended until the end of October 2010. We have some big plans for this engine in 2010 which includes it appearing in LT Maroon as L99. More details to follow soon!

 

Any chance of the LT coaches (T stock?) being put into working order to match it?

Also, is there any chance either before or after its repaint into maroon that it will appear in BR livery? GWR colours look fine if you have some GWR coaches, but with largely Mk 1/2 stock on the SVR, it does look a bit incongruous.

 

At least let one coat dry before choosing the next, maybe?!

 

Sorry. Due to the tight timescales of getting the engine prepared for our 2010 season and the Steam Gala in April (details coming soon) 7715 will not be appearing in BR colours.

I am being handed the engine at the beginning of January and it has to be ready by the end of March. Therefore taking into account we are all volunteers, the inclement weather we have and no proper paint shop, we will need this time to ensure the job is done properly.

A change to BR green could have been easy!! Anyone willing to pay for December???

The T Stock require a fair amount of work on their running gear but it is hoped at least one will be ready by the end of April.

I'll be starting another thread on the repaint soon so all I can say is watch this space...

 

Although we do want to get the T Stock operational again, as it stands they wont be operating with 7715/L99 (except possibly photo charters) as they are air braked and the loco is vac only.

 

Any ideas on the costs of tickets for tomorrow?

Andrew

 

I haven't heard any ticket adjustments for the weekend so I can only assume that ticket prices remain the same. I'm not guaranteeing it though! It won't be much difference as we only have two engines running.

Matt

 

Considering the bad weather on Saturday and our friends a few miles away holding a certain gala, we had 500+ visitors over the weekend.

A varied and entertaining weekend that required little additional input to make a great weekend. The freshly overhauled CCT in the train was certainly very popular and a nice sight with the three green coaches.

Attention now turns towards the Santa trains as well as next year's gala!

Matt

 

Good, LT maroon will look far better than boring old BR black! I do not mean to offend the BR brigade with that comment before anyone starts.