Severn Valley ASG 20th-22nd September 2013

As Martin mentioned, the dull weather disappeared just after lunchtime and the SVR turned into a blaze of colour. My personal highlights this afternoon included 43106 on the goods, Kinlet Hall on a rake of GWR stock, the GWR local and that wonderful machine 'Duchess of Sutherland' hauling 8 carmine and cream coaches between Bewdley and Kidderminster in the most glorious evening light. The SVR must be congratulated on yet another superb steam gala. As for value for money of the WTT today, it was worth every penny. <BJ>

 

Just literally got back from this, a very enjoyable day - Now enjoying a well earned beer!

Nice to finally see the Duchess in green, sadly arrived too late to get a ride behind her, though I did manage SKP and Cheltenham looked right at home on the teaks, must be something to do with almost being the right shade of green......................................................

And just to say how friendly and helpful the staff I met at Kidderminster, Bewdley and Highley, and the TTI's and guards were even though the afternoon services were rammed............................. as well as the late evening ones being well patronised too!

I promise I wont leave it another 30 years before my next Gala!

 

Morning all,

An excellent gala and well done to all involved. Even the weather behaved! Please find below some photos and a video of the events at Kidderminster yesterday

http://railwaygalleries.smugmug.com/OtherPreservedSteam/Severn-Valley-Railway-Aut-2013/



The only downside was a particularly selfish chap with a hi-viz jacket on who chose to stand in front of half a dozen or so people when the Duchess arrived to get exactly the same shot as he would have got had he been stood on the side of the road rather than on the other side of the fence. Other than that, no complaints whatsoever.

Cheers,
Chris

 

43106 out replacing 46233 today. Seems the Duchess failed yesterday, and can't be repaired at Bewdley. I overheard someone saying a 47 will be coming down to take it back to Crewe or Butterley. Nice run behind 34053 this morning whilst having breakfast in the delightful LMS dining car. 4936 looks and sounds good too. Any chance of it staying please?!

 

The Hall was the star for me, seems such a natural fit for the SVR.

 

Footage of all visiting engines

 

Some more shots processed from Friday and Saturday:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9871857806/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9872248906/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9872781704/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9875007113/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9875216184/in/photostream/

 

Great event! My video reuploaded, now it plays in full!

 

Great gala. Shame about the Duchess which I hoped to ride behind today. I understand the air pump is unserviceable and since the steam brake has been removed the loco has no braking of its own. Fit to towed tho and will be leaving tomorrow . The 1430 from Bridgnorth was heaving - half the train been given over to dining. The rest of us were crammed wherever we could find space. It was rather like a peak time HST from Paddington albeit with friendlier and chattier company.

 

Sutherland and support coach went from Bewdley to Kidderminster, getting to Kidderminster about 6.10. At least one person on the footplate had a West Coast top on. If I was a betting man I would say it is returning this evening. I had to leave before it did however, so I can't confirm this.

 

A very small set from an hour spent at Victoria Bridge on Friday Lunch.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grahamjenks/sets/72157635754074183/

 

My video from Saturday, if you like endurance then hopefully you'll get through all 37 minutes of it!

 

Nice day out - trains packed but the timetable was fairly naff and with so many people the freight paths were a pain rather than an added bonus.

 

with a big thank you to all involved with an excellent gala, here's my footage

 

My video from 22/09/2013:

 

And another 3:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9883371044/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9882932725/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neilscottuk/9878662796/in/photostream/

 

Returning behind a diesel Kidderminster-Butterley on Monday morning.

 

I understand that 4936 Kinlet Hall is likely to be staying at the SVR until after Christmas.

 

Rubbish. I actually thought the timetable worked well this year. In particular, my highlight was the 'rotating' locals, which met at Arley buffer to buffer - superb! That way, both 5164 and 5643 got a trot up most of the Valley allowing everyone to see them, rather than locos being confined to one end as per the majority of galas in the past. The exception to this was Met 1, which was understandable, as I will explain below. For me, 46233 was way too big. 4936 was nice, but popular - the star performer was the Pig.

I know that this gala will have been a success for the railway due to the glorious weather on the Saturday. However, I feel that something really needs to be done at Highley. I got off SKP in the morning (thanks to Fred Kerr for the heads up) and had a couple of hours stop off here. I had been by the river, and walked back up to the station just as Cheltenham arrived at around 1pm. People were just standing there, at the bottom of the footbridge, refusing to move. Basically, a number of people were trying to board the train, and the SVR guards were doing their best to try and ensure they could. However, common sense had gone completely out of the window, as rather than move along the train, people insisted on just standing in the gangway of the coach they had just boarded! It was impossible for anyone to board, as there was no room in the coaches in the platform. Anyway, the station was full, so I decided to get on the footbridge over to the other side to get out of the way. The footbridge was completely blocked, mostly by people gawping and taking (pretty rubbish I imagine) pictures at the three locomotives below. There were two lines of people trying to pass, and only room for one person at a time to squeeze through. An absolute joke, and a wonder that no-one was hurt. Eventually, I made it over the other side having crawled across at snails pace, and walked towards the loco. As I got close to the front, it was clear to me that there was space in the front coaches, but that people just werent walking down the train. People consistently moan about trains being delayed - how can you deal with idiots that refuse to help? Yes, they have paid to ride, just like I have, but you could see that the station staff were trying to get the train moving as quick as they could. Yet, they just stood along the corridor of the coach they had just boarded as if they owned it! How would they like it if they were on the platform watching other people hog the corridors?

Anyway, roughly ten minutes later, everything was quiet again, and I boarded the local south into some wonderful sunshine! Rant over, but I feel that something needs to be done about people clearly loitering when trains are trying to be dispatched - they are a hazard to everyone else and are causing delays in the timetable. I fully appreciate that there are elderly and people with disabilities to be catered for, but this was not the case here - it was the ignorance of perfectly able people refusing to see that they were causing a problem both on the footbridge and the train.

I hadn't been to Highey for a while, mostly because i'm part of of the 'its been ruined' brigade. I think i'll avoid it altogether in the future, at least at peak times!