SVR Autumn Steam Gala on 23 -25 September 2011

I have just ordered my 3 day rover ticket on the SVR's website. Only 3 weeks to go for non-stop continuously steam.

 

Does a rover ticket include the night running, i.e. is it valid midnight to midnight?

 

Yes, a friday rover is valid until midnight or there about and the same idea for saturday and sunday.

 

Timetable arrived this morning
Just want the weather now.

 

My WTT has also arrived, so only 1 question left to be asked. Which way are each of the locos going to be facing?

 

Indeed, but its good news that the WTT's are arriving in the UK, that means it should be in my hands before i leave in two weeks for the UK!! I suspect that final decisions on directions are not yet made, as i know the turntable has been used in the past during gala's to turn locos around (i have pictures of Union of South Africa facing both ways in the same day in 2004).

I'm just a little bit excited for my vacation, just over 10 more days in the office to suffer through before i head to the airport for our flight to England!!!

 

Look forward to catching up Ste. Which days are you going to be riding the trains? Need to arrange a catch up one of the evenings.

 

I'm looking forward to catching up with you as well. Friday is going to be riding the trains primarily as my girlfriend has committed to one day at the railway to see whats going on and unless something changes, that will be Friday (though i am debating suggesting Sunday to her, kinda waiting to see the WTT and what the weekend looks like). Assuming no changes, Saturday and Sunday will be photography days, some riding to get to and from places, but primarily I'll be out and around the countryside those days.

 

Hi Jason does it say on that timetable if the king is running at night please;
all the best
jane;

 

Does the 18.00 ex Kiddy and 19.52 ex Bridgnorth on Friday and Saturday.

 

What's 828 doing on the Saturday?

 

the king doesnt run at night no. does 3 round trips from 8.40am until about 9pm friday and saturday.

 

Can I ask everyone on here if they are going to ask which loco is doing what and when, rather than rely on info from someone else. Buy a copy of the WTT.

 

I would agree with Southernman99 here, but a thought occurs. Whilst my train of thought is obviously most directly related to this WTT, it is applicable to many others.

1) Do Heritage Railways that charge for a WTT for a special event endeavour in so doing to recoup the loss of having said WTTs printed, or to make a profit?
2) If it is to make a profit, what sort of figure are we talking?
3) Would it not be a time and effort saver to print only as many WTTs as are needed for stations, signalboxes, loco crews and so forth, and to provide the WTT, free of charge, on the internet for those that are interested to print off for themselves, at no cost to the Railway?

I'm only thinking out loud here, I'm not begrudging the cost of a WTT (the SVR autumn gala WTT is easily the largest and most complicated one out there, and as a volunteer I don't have to pay for one anyway!)

 

Frankly, for what the SVR working timetable is, £5 (or $9 canadian) is not a big deal to get one and have all the moves and info. I pre-ordered mine and am patiently waiting (with fingers crossed that the trans atlantic mail gets it here before the 21st) on it getting here so i can prepare where i want to be along the line and when. What would be more valuable to me at this point is if the brochure with the public schedule was posted online so i can at least have all that information organized the way i want so all i have to do is plug in locomotive info and finalize where i want to be.

The one bit of useful info as Lil Bear mentioned is loco direction, but really, as that can change at any time with the turntable, unless there are hard and fast decisions been made about which way the line wants locos facing, i'm not sure anyone posting it now would help.

All i know, is i now have 8 more work days till i get to the airport

@Jamie, i can't imagine the lines are making a big profit on the WTT if they are making one. I would think that at the cost of it they are recouping at best the cost of the printing of the WTT for staff, printing those sold, and probably a good chunk of the cost of printing the public schedule brochure. At least if i were the one responsible for it, those would be my budget targets on it (i know, all 0.02 that my opinion is worth, but c'est la vie).

 

On Thursday 22nd September I intend to travel the line and will update here with the facing directions of all locomotives that I can see.

 

Interesting debate on the WTT - all h*ll breaks loose everytime the NYMR tries to charge for loco diagrams (and we are not great at actually being able to get them out in advance, especially for the steam events, where the glossy brochure often ends up widiagrams that are a work of fiction as the rigours of steaming usually 4 locos a day takes it toll), but you should see how many people were going to boycott the Diesel Gala next weekend because of a charge of £2.50 for the detailed loco diagrmas until some kind person managed to post the diagrmas on the internet before they had actually been distributed to most staff.

The aim of charging for this information is two fold - it is undeniably initially prompted by a strong desire to ensure that anyone planning only to turn up and watch the trains makes at least some contribution. The "problem" is, I often feel, overstated and debates on here tned to underline both the fact the view is held and that in 95% of cases is inaccurate - many "watchers" (I am avoiding the "p" word!) will also travel or even buy a ticket and not use it as well as viositing shops, tea rooms etc. However, a souvenir brochure can well produce a good profit and is just another example of methods of offsetting the absolutely massive cost of staging a Gala. I suspect few fully appreicate how much haulage (by road or rail) of locos costs, but a major, 2 weekend Gala can easily cost £50,000 in haulage and hire for multiple visitors. Pehraps against this background, if those involved with a Railway seem a little unsympathetic when people complain about spending a few £ on a diagram sheet, you can see why!

And if anyone thinks it should be recovered by higher fares, isn't that even more unfair on those actually paying a reasonable amount and travelling by further opening the possibility of those just watching paying nothing towards the expensive show they are enjoying.

Steven

 

I'm generally one of the observers, I very seldom travel because it reduces the opportunities to film the event. My view of WTTs is that if they are real WTTs, and the SVRs WTT is just that, then it has too much information in it for me and it is too large and the information is not presented in a manner which is helpful. The NYMR WTT isn't really a WTT but a glossy that is physically too big and like most glossies is just full of stuff I don't need or want apart from the timetable itself. I just tear out the timetable section and the rest goes in the bin - sorry Steven.

Of all the WTTs available at events the WSRs' is the closest to the ideal. A small potted history of each loco, a timetable which details which loco will be on each service and which way round it will be. And it is small enough to fit into the breast pocket of a shirt. Brill!

As far as cost is concerned, it doesn't matter too much to me. Non cost more than a fiver and what's a fiver in 2011?

Regards