Severn Valley 2014 Spring Gala.

Those vehicles are the property of the GWR(SVR) Association - knowing members of said organisation (I am one myself), I cannot imagine them supporting this suggestion.

 

Got to disagree there Southernman 99 on several counts:

1. Nobody who has been properly trained or has common sense will use a rocking grate in the evening. The fire should be allowed to die gently which is better for the loco & you actually get to use the expensive heat which remains in the live, dying fire.
2. Rocking grates are high maintenance & therefore high cost compared to drop grates. Whilst the drop grate does increase the effort required to move the dead material to the drop area that is small price to pay in comparison.
3. Hopper ashpans are frequent causes of extra maintenance & the source of many line side fires due to ill fitting hopper doors sometimes caused by misuse. Far better is the fixed "swill out" ashpan as fitted to some WSR & other locos. This does not involve moving parts (apart from one oven type door) but does make it possible to remove most ash by swilling out with a little assistance from a rake.

Speed of getting to the Pub is not a major consideration if the more sensible "disposal in the morning" approach is adopted And its better for the loco!

 

The SVR toplights and early Colletts are 57ft, the later Colletts 61/62ft and Hawksworths 64ft (per SVR Stock Book)

Patrick

 

hello
despite bouts of rain and hail and a cold wind had a good day out yesterday
there didn't seem to be many linesiders about perhaps the £95 to renew there passes is having an affect
some pictures at www.stevebottrill.zenfolio.com
regards

 

Two mk1 sets, the teaks and the lms set were out. Surely a gwr set would have look more authentic than the lms or teaks with ex gwr engines whatever livery they were sporting?

That said there may have been other reasons. From purely the photter point of view it was a missed opportunity for me. But then I had such a good day ill be back anyway. Hopefully next time ill see one of those sets out.

 

We happened to be in the area for a non-related event, but managed to swing by for some of Friday & back for a ride in the evening on the Saturday. Thought it was excellent - haven't been to an SVR event for a while, but was pleased to go to this one.

Nine shots here:

 

Hmmm, I was under the impression the slamlocks on 9103 are as per the original design. The GWR did use slamlocks briefly in the 20s/30s.

 

I did not want to pontificate from memory alone and wanted to get a look at 9103. I agree re slam lock experiment. Two of the GWR dining cars used in set S (5) have slam locks - from memory, The brake has turn locks.

Whilst some users dont know how the locks work they are not inherently unsafe. My main concern re repeated slamming is it cant do the coach much good and if slammed with the lock in the closed position cant do the lock any good. What no poster has mrntioned is that Inspction Saloon W80972 was attached to the LMS set for brunch and cream tea and ran all Fri Sat and Sun and being GWR design has turn locks.

 

My effort from the sunday of the gala event.

 

I would suggest that you actually look at photographs from steam in the West Midlands in the latter years (late 50's, early 60's). Staniers were common mixed in with ex-GW stock. Teaks were also seen too, working into (for isntance) New Street from the North East - therefore, in terms of `photter point of view' I dont see why it should be an issue. Coaches were obviously painted in BR liveries, but for me it makes no difference either way - if it was better for the SVR to have run this stock over the GW set, then so be it, it still made for nice pictures (if that was your aim).

I dont see why people bother with a Hi-Vis pass to be perfectly honest. There were plenty of accessible locations available that didnt need one, and with the recent vegetation clearance certain spots opened up that havent been seen in a while. What got me was people using a Hi-Vis vest to stand a short distance away from the platform edge and thereby ensure that people on the platform could not get a shot without them in it. I noticed this at Hampton Loade - three stood by the siding turnout, getting what seemed to me to be exactly the same shot as those stood on the end of the platform???

 

My snaps from Saturday:

http://simonwhittinghamphotography.zenfolio.com/p230969097

 

Exactly - there seems to be a general perception that the 1950s / 1960s equates to solely BR Mark 1s, which simply isn't borne out by study of photos: grouping (and even pre-grouping) rolling stock continued in front-line service, especially on secondary and branch lines, right up to the end of steam. Natural enough, when you think of it - the Mark 1s were the brand new, prestige coaches, so would have been concentrated on the few prestige services - BR certainly wasn't going to scrap tens of thousands of perfectly serviceable carriages overnight. Interregional workings meant that carriages from one company would have been common on other lines, and even liveries didn't change that quickly: there were still grouping-era livery carriages well into the mid 1950s. I have photos of a Maunsell livery U class hauling a rake of GWR chocolate and cream carriages; a Bulleid livery Maunsell mogul hauling a rake of LNER teaks; a BR liveried West Country hauling a three coach LSWR non-corridor set etc. What I don't have is many non-preservation era photos of steam locos hauling trains composed solely of Mark 1s, at least not before the mid 1960s!

Tom

 

Photographs of mine are now online at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/frank47524/sets/72157642896122465/

Another cracking gala!

 

The issues re HV when not needed are recognised. There were numerous signs requesting use of HV be limited to only that actually essential. I did not find a need to don HV at any time during the day aplying common sence instead..

 

Alright let's just clear a couple of things up. First, as previously said, this was my first visit to this line and I had a cracking time. It was well organized and orchestrated with plenty going on and lots to see.
Second, yes indeed you are right, in the 50's and 60's all sorts of coaches were used. I was merely referring to the fact that I can go to any railway in the country for mk1's. I can go to a few for teaks. But I've yet to see gwr stock out, hence the missed opportunity. It's a long way to gwr territory for me! Nonetheless I hope to return at some point in the future. Hopefully it will be out then.

 

Well I thought this was a fabulous gala and everything a Spring gala on this western region line should be. The PW team and others have done a fantastic job in opening up views and vantage points that haven't been seen for a decade plus and the loco selection was spot on. Even the weather was a typical British spring with sunshine and showers. The addition of the excellent nightshoot on the Thursday night is something I hope becomes a permanent fixture, some great cameos were created on the evening. I still have the Saturday and Sunday pictures to edit but here is a selection to date, more will be on my Flickr site over the coming days at http://www.flickr.com/photos/120198952@N04/

 

My footage from Sunday, mostly around Arley, Highley and Bewdley station areas.

 

My footage filmed across all three days:



And some 20 images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgraw/sets/72157642817226623/

This was my first visit to the Severn Valley and I loved it, can't wait to go back!

 

A few of mine too:













The rest can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teenagesteamphotography/

Thanks,
Lewis