The Fab Four Steam Gala, Barrow Hill Roundhouse, 13-15 April 2012

Duty Druid - hope the pub crawl goes well. I suspect the only crawling I'll be doing by then will be to my bed - it's been a rather frantic few days!

Clarke T - the free bus service runs from Chesterfield Station to the Roundhouse. You should see one waiting (or one should turn up pretty soon) when you come out of the station, simply queue and board. The service should be at least half hourly but in view of the numbers we are expecting we have ordered extra buses - so hopefully you won't have to wait too long. The service in the other direction when you leave Barrow Hill will be equally frequent.

So we're nearly there, 36 hours or thereabouts until we open the gates. All the engines are, just a bit more shunting to do. Trade stalls have started arriving - and the real ale bar is ready to go. It really promises to be an amazing few days - do come and say hello if you see me wandering around over the weekend.

 

Music to my ears, see you tomorrow!

 

I called in this evening to set up the Vulcan Trust stand, and the event is already going with a swing, despite heavy rain. The GNR atlantic is posed next to the N2 in the roundhouse, with the Y7 and J72 alongside. Smoke, steam and photographers everywhere.

Tim

 

Brilliant preview day - lots of happy smiling people enjoying the sunshine and all the attractions. Luckily, apart from a couple of light showers, the heavy rain held off until fairly late in the evening. The photo charter participants were able to get shots of our amazing line up in beautiful evening light - and I do hope some of them may end up posted on here? This link to The Railway Magazine sums up what we can all look forward to over the next three days....Fabulous gathering for 'Fab Four' gala - The Railway Magazine Magazine

 

Thanks Alexa to you and the Barrow Hillteam for a fantastic day yesterday.
Some pictures attached here as a taster for those still to visit.



SteveA

 

Thank you SteveA - great pictures!

A nice article in today's Yorkshire Post...A feast of steam for railway enthusiasts - The Arts - Yorkshire Post

And BBC Look North (Leeds) have been down here most of the day filming for this evening's regional news - BBC1 from 6.30pm.

 

What a cracking event. Had a splendid day yesterday, not even the weather could put a damper on it. I'm going to be days sorting through my pics & vids, but here's a taster (took me many many attempts & buckets of patience to get this one):

I was eating a burger & swilling it down with a nice pint of Blue Peter Ale when the BBC were filming a segment round the traction engines. The female presenter was attempting to operate the miniature steam lorry, it was rather entertaining - I bet they don't include her screech when she first got it to move :tape:
Bittern & Mallard looked great next to each other:

 

BBC iPlayer - Look North (Yorkshire): 13/04/2012 Here we go. The footage of Fab 4 starts at 20 mins in with all screeches. Also look out for Alexa's starring role. Nice one

 

Thank you sweetktg and campainr yesterday was brilliant - the BBC loved the Roundhouse and the clips they showed last night I hope gave a flavour of what a wonderful event this is.

 

Just make sure the real ale bar is well stocked for tomorroweace:

 

Video footage of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h0KLgFGAOA

 

Everything but, at Barrow Hill 13 April 2012

Barrow Hill opened its doors on a huge and rich collection of LNER locos, including gems such as Mallard and the Ivatt Atlantic which are rarely seen outside the NRM. Prominent were a pair of A4s side by side in LNER garter blue with full valances, the new build Tornado and its close relative Blue Peter, and the welcome return of Green Arrow. But all those attending were conscious of the absentee from the Fab 4, No 4472 Flying Scotsman, whose restoration challenges drag on and on.

Nonetheless it was a fine display, marred only by grey cloud through the morning which deteriorated to rain at lunchtime. All the signs were of excellent attendance and support, vindicating all the hard work of the Barrow Hill team and other exhibitors.

See 20 photos at Zenfolio | Peter Hewitt's Transport Pictures | Everything but, at Barrow Hill 13 April 2012

Peter, on a cold grey Manchester afternoon
Zenfolio | Peter Hewitt's Transport Pictures

 

Very good day yesterday, my first ever visit to barrow hill, unexpectedly quiet by mid afternoon. Selection of my photographs can be found here: steam on heritage lines -  
Shame there wasn't greater movement of engines since the N2 and The Great Marquess did nothing all afternoon and were virtually un-photographable but I guess this was down to space! Overall well worth a visit if you’re intending going tomorrow.
Thanks to all those involved. There must have been some serious head scratching to find space of all those diesels!

Cheers Richard

 

None of the usual clichés and a clever 'angle' to widen the appeal of the event and steam preservation as a whole, very impressed!

Chris

 

I attended the photo event on Thursday and the impressive display of East Coast power in the yard was excellent. Thanks to all the good people at Barrow Hill for staging the event. My photos can be found here.
Barrow Hill Roundhouse - Thursday 12th April 2012 - Paul Gildersleve's Photos | SmugMug

Regards,

Paul

 

hello
great day at the gala on friday although the weather was crap i think the people of ashby must suffer from some sort of vitamin c shortage because it has become really noticable that when ever i drive north the big light goes off around there and only comes back on when i return south , some pics at
Zenfolio | steam photography
thanks to everyone at barrow hill it must have took some planning

 

Video now up, but pics will be next week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mw7v1yrt80

 

A huge thank you to everyone who visited the Fab Four Steam Gala this weekend. I hope you all got some nice photographs of the day and, more importantly, had a really good time! An even bigger thank you to all the volunteers and stewards without whom the last three days could not have gone so well. The ops team are now busy shunting before heading off for a well deserved beer.

 

Fantastic day to be had on Friday, even the intermittent weather didn't diminish the atmosphere, the small slots of sunshine appeared when the most impressive photographs of the day could be achieved...

Myself being an avid Western fan (With tongue firmly stuck in cheek when it comes to banter; I like everything!) I can say I was most impressed by the selection on view, was superb to see Mallard, the J17 and Atlantic out of York. Perhaps more cameo's inside the shed could've given us something to do when the sun was in, say after the N2 had finished its passenger runs, stick it inside with the Atlantic for a couple of hours instead of having her sat in a siding (cannot vouch for the other 2 days, maybe this did happen) not a gripe, I still had tremendous fun
Thumbs up from a first time BH visitor.

 

Whilst today at BH was enjoyable, a fair few people were disappointed as a result of the two A4s not being posed together in the lineup. 4464 started working the shuttles and then went over the pit for an FTR exam. I know a number of people went specifically to see two garter blue A4s side by side but sadly it was not to be. Got some Y7 haulage for the first time though.