National Railway Museum Railfest 2012

Finally sorted & uploaded all my pics & vid from a very wet, but highly enjoyable Sunday. Better still, with the weather being how it was, it was rather quiet thus brill for photos.

https://picasaweb.google.com/craigrycroft/TrainsYorkNRMRailfest2012030612?authuser=0&feat=directlink

60007 Sir Nigel Gresley - On The Footplate - NRM York Railfest 2012 - YouTube
2012 0-4-0ST Peckett "Teddy" - Behind The Footplate - NRM York Railfest 2012 - YouTube
D6700 Class37 & City of Truro - On The Shuttle Line - NRM York Railfest 2012 - YouTube

 

One more quick question will I be able to look round the whole of the NRM as well as Railfest. I have quite a bit I want to fit into 1 day.

 

I've got my photos up, Monday & today have being very enjoyable, volunteering with York City & District Model Engineering Society doing various tasks culminating in driving for a while at the end of today has been very enjoyable, beats wandering around taking pictures that's for sure!

Railfest - a set on Flickr


Cheltenham by williamfj2, on Flickr


Londoners by williamfj2, on Flickr

And a suggestion from a certain Mr. Coulls

Streamlining by williamfj2, on Flickr

 

Yes, I got round it all in about 7 hours.

 

Wonderful photos. Cheltenham looks resplendent and I must say that I do like Malachite Green. Wish I could be there!

 

Sorry to quibble but the image in your gallery - "Two LMS trains in Yorkshire" isn't exactly correct. The model of the 4-4-0 in crimson lake pulling a rake of coaches is of a Midland Railway Johnson Belpaire 2606 class (built in 1902 to 1904) in their original, as-built condition with a pre-1907 fully-lined livery. They never entered LMS service in this condition after being extensively rebuilt to become 483 class/3P's

http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrbns_pg1927.htm (Here's a photo of one it its post 1907 MR livery and prior to rebuilding.

 

Oh cool. I wanted to do Railfest, NRM and see 5043 although I'm delaying my return home so I can see 5043 depart as well. Wasn't sure if I could squeeze it all in.

What sort of Railfest merchandise is there to buy. I've seen shirts and the Special Top Trumps Cards on NRM's twitter but is anything else avaliable.

 

Steam at the York Railfest 4 June 2012

The National Railway Museum at York has imported many locomotives and rolling stock of all types for its major Railfest 2012 in the South Yard. Whilst keen enthusiasts will applaud the promotion of the railways to a wider audience, they wonder how they can get their pictures without being overwhelmed by ordinary punters wanting to inspect the hardware at close quarters. Hence I seized on the offer of a restricted event where, in exchange for a hefty additional fee, one would be competing with a maximum of 399 other snappers.

So I arrived just before 6.30 pm for this session, where the sun was still shining strongly from the west. Cloud gathered during the evning, solving some problems and creating others. I decided in the limited time to restrict my attention mostly to the standard gauge steam exhibits, where there was indeed plenty to go at. Four LNER-designed Pacifics and two LMS ones headed the roster, but there was plenty more to interest the visitor.

First encountered were Tornado and Sir Nigel Gresley, soon followed by the railway star of the Diamond Jubilee pageant on the Thames the day before, the LMS Pacific Princess Elizabeth. Next encountered was the NRM flagship Mallard, perfectly positioned in the evening sunshine with the LNER dynamometer car behind it. Then came LMS Jubilee 4-6-0 Bahamas, etched in the memory of north-west enthusiasts from its Dinting days, and much missed. Its paint job now aged over the last 20 years, it looked just like the Millhouses, Holbeck and Kentish Town Jubilees I grew up with in the 1950s. Next came the engine I first saw as No 60103 on the South Yorkshireman at Sheffield Victoria, the ill-fated Flying Scotsman. In its matt black paint job and unfamilair number, it is clearly some way from completion as its rods were missing, but at least we could see it!

All the time I had been walking round, I had kept glimpsing a fine sight, but had not managed to find the right camera angle to capture its full crimson and gold majesty. The restreamlined LMS Princess Coronation Pacific Duchess of Hamilton looked most impressive with its matching Coronation Scot coach, and I set out to capture its various aspects and moods, waiting patiently for many of the 399 to allow me a clear view.

There were many other treasures to enjoy, but all too soon the light was goingand the time was running out. What was my highlight of the evening? None of the many distinguished visitors: it was joint top place to the NRM's own top stars, Mallard in glorious sunshine, and Duchess of Hamilton, its beautiful golden stripes picked out by the setting sun. If we must have a crimson Duchess, let it be sleekly and sturdily streamlined, with its golden rays highlighting its massive grace!

30 photographs are at Zenfolio | Peter Hewitt's Transport Pictures | Steam at the York Railfest 4 June 2012

Peter, on a rainy evening in Manchester
Zenfolio | Peter Hewitt's Transport Pictures

 

hello
i chose wednesday for my visit to railfest hoping it would be quiter - wrong !!!
it was packed by the time i got there at 10.20 the locos could have been displayed better but it was a great day out
a few pictures are at Zenfolio | steam photography
thanks to everyone at the nrm for making it happen

 

Here's a video of some of the stuff happening around Railfest on Tuesday, hope you enjoy it:

[video=youtube;d-q--D0FmZQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-q--D0FmZQ[/video]

 

Had a fantastic day yesterday and massive praise to everyone involved in the event. Very informative people on the footplates and sadly after I got off people were allowed to blow the whistle on 60007 (although sadly there was not enough steam in 60163 to do the same). Managed to get around the NRM as well.

The only downers were the weather which was mostly sunny but there were a few spells of rain and my Camera pretty much running out (though it did manage to get a few of 5043 before she left York), I also managed to run my old Phone out of battery taking photos in the NRM.

It was great to see the NRM locos and 60007 for the first time in 14 years, 4472 for the first time in 12 years albeit without the motion and 6201 for the first time in 10 years.

 

Including a couple of shots of me driving Truro at 1.50 and 9.30 and a turn on Teddy around 2.30...

 

What a memorable event that was. Over 60 locomotives for just £13 (if booked online) and free rides all day. I was quite concerned when I looked at the list of locomotives a few weeks back, especially as a fair few engines were either from an industrial or narrow gauge back ground - an area that I have little interest in (think 'Mardy Monster', 'Synolda' etc...).

How wrong can you be? In my case, VERY wrong. Although perhaps a little short in terms of steam power IMHO (RailFest 2004 was better in that respect with 61572, 62005, 6233 etc...), I thought the entire event was very well organised, and the staff were very friendly and helped me out when looking for Cheltenham and 50008.

Personally, I can't say I had a favourite steam locomotive at the event, although it was great to see 60007 in the flesh for the first time (my last UK based A4, now just for the American and Canadian A4s), as well as seeing 4472 for the first time in 8 years even if all the motion was left off (understandably so as it is being taken back to Bury for finishing off, according to Ian Riley over at 'The Works'). As for the diesels, I thought the 56 looked very impressive in the RF livery, and the 92 wasn't bad either. The 395 looked stunning in the sun and the Brighton Belle appears to be coming on leaps and bounds.

I was a little confused however as to why a few exhibits were there, for example the 'Kibblesworth drift bogie'? If someone could explain why this was there, I would appreciate it.

I took around an hour's worth of footage on the day, narrowed down to JUST (?!) 16 minutes of video. My video from the day is to be found here: RailFest 2012 - 6th June - YouTube

Thanks a lot to everyone who was involved in creating RF2012, more like this please Mr Davies and co!

James at SVN

 

Now that the event has finished, What do the attendance figures look like as against the projected numbers?
I was on the NYMR stand for 3 of the days and felt that it could have been a lot busier than it actually was, especially yesterday morning.

 

Here are my pictures from Saturday

Railfest 9th June 2012 pictures by DanHill1991 - Photobucket

 

All,

VT and 6201 PELS are looking for shots of 6201 taken at railfest (in the sun - so that limits it a bit) complete with the ER Headboard.

If anyone would like to share and allow us to use them for publicity, please email me a high-res copy to ben@vintagetrains.co.uk

Kindest Regards.

Ben - VT

 

Here is my First 3 Parts on YouTube to Railfest 2012
Railfest 2012 5th and 6th June Part 1 - YouTube
Railfest 2012 5th and 6th June Part 2 - YouTube
Railfest 2012 5th and 6th June Part 3 - YouTube

There will be more Parts this Weekend!

 

Better late than never as they say....
Here's my contribution; what a fantastic event! I wasn't able to attend the first Railfest event in 2004 so I was pleased when I had the opportunity to visit what had been billed as the 'rail event of the decade' - and I certainly wasn't disappointed when I visited on Thursday 7th June! It was great to see all the engines, but it was especially good to see No:3717 'City of Truro' up and running again after a boiler retube - I do love that engine. I spent a couple of hours there, and would have spent much longer, and very easy that would have been, too. But I decided against it because I had seen virtually all the steam exhibits (by the way,I had though No:92203 'Black Prince' was visiting, but I don't remember seeing it, could anyone enlighten me as to what happened to it? Thanks) and modern traction isn't really my cup of tea. Besides, I'd visited the museum only in December so there wasn't much point going round again.
All in all a fantastic event with plenty of variety. I especially liked the marquee with the stands in, all the more because I managed to bag a bargain - 3 books for £15 - the price you'd be lucky to get one reasonable new book for - and this included one by OS Nock.
My only minor niggle would be the appearance of one or two of the engines; they did not look quite as clean as I might have expected them to be, No:5972 especially - rust on the wheels and a barely discernible copper cap on the chimney combined to make her look a little forlorn.
I would like to take this opportunity to say a massive 'Thank You' to all the volunteers, organisers and organisations who worked together and so hard to make this superb event the success it was - thank you.
Just finally, I'd like to draw your attention to a couple of links that, seen as you're browsing this thread, you might just be interested in:
A report on the event on my website Totally-transport.co.uk: NRM Railfest 7/06/12 - totally-transport.co.uk
8 HD video of Railfest including a trip through the site with Nos:3717 and D6700, the Gauge 1 layout, 'Palmerston' and more: (HD) Railfest 7/06/12 - YouTube
26 photos from Railfest: https://picasaweb.google.com/115609395788457768316/Railfest70612
I do hope you enjoy the report, video and photos and that if you attended they bring back happy memories, and if you weren't able to go, then I hope you'll at least be able to see what you missed!
As always feedback on the report, video and photos is most welcome and indeed appreciated providing it is constructive, via this thread, comments on YouTube and Picasa or through PM.
The reason for this appearing so late is a combination of having an extremely busy week whilst attending Railfest; visiting the SDR for the Jubilee gala and returning to Devon for the Dartmouth Steam Railway's heritage festival on 8th and 8th June, then going home, feeling unwell (from an overdose of trains?). This means I've only just got round to sorting everthing out!
A video, photos and a report for the Heritage Festival are currently in the pipeline - watch this space.
Enjoy!

 

"Black Prince" is currently working on the North Norfolk Railway.