Epping Ongar Railway Spring Diesel Gala 26th 27th April

This year’s annual Spring Diesel Gala takes place over the weekend 26th and 27th April. We will be running an intensive train service, with real ale bar on our vacuum braked train and our popular Saturday evening trains.

STOP PRESS
20227 to be replaced by BR Blue 20048 from the Midland Railway Centre.

We were advised by the owning group of 20227 that the loco was required to return to the mainline earlier than planned and would therefore be unavailable to attend our Spring Diesel Gala.
The good news is that in the space of 24 hours, with the help of the Midland Class 20 Association (MCTA), we have managed to confirm that 20048 will be attending from The Midland Railway Centre as a replacement

Home Fleet Locomotives
Locomotives from our home fleet will include 47635 "Jimmy Milne", 31438, 37029 and Thumper Unit 205205. Please note that all locos including visitors are subject to the usual on the day availability clause.

Timetables
An intensive timetable will operate throughout the weekend. Each day will have two non stop express runs, plus double heading and top and tailing. Go to the website to view loco roster.
PRICES
This year we are also saying a big thank you to the enthusiasts and people who made last years diesel gala the great weekend it was by keeping our online fares the same as our normal fares – so no gala uplift in fares for booking in advance!

Please note the Abellio Greater Anglia 2for1 vouchers and discounts are not valid at this event. Please also note we do not offer BR or TOC, NE, PRIV or Heritage Rail Inter-Rail Pass Discounts at this event.

Buses
Also reinstated for 2014 is our Shenfield Heritage bus service. Regular heritage RT and RM buses will navigate the roads of rural Essex to take you to the Epping Ongar Railway direct from the BR mainline station at Shenfield. The buses will run at convenient times throughout the weekend.
Dont forget this is included in the price of your ticket.

We will be running an additional morning bus, departing Epping Station at 09.00 - arriving North Weald at 09.12 - and additional evening buses will also run from North Weald to Epping as follows to connect with our Gala evening trains:

Dep North Weald;
Saturday: 18.10, 19.10, 20.10
Sunday: 18.10

Cab Rides
We are now in a position to confirm that cab rides will be available during the Gala.
This is a rare opportunity to ride in the cab of our four mainline locos that will be at our Gala: 47635, 37029, 31438 and 20048. Rest assured you will hear the engines work from the unique position of the driving cab while they tackle our challenging gradients.
Prices will be £10 for one way between Ongar and North Weald or £10 for a round rip to Coopersale. Non-stop runs and Thumper runs will not be available.
Cab passes will be on sale from the Ticket Offices at North Weald or Ongar.

BAR TRAIN
The other great news is that for the first time on the EOR we will be selling draught beer from our Bar Train. Our launch beer is not just any draught beer, but the award winning Redemption Hopspur (4.5%).This beer was winner of the 2013 South Eastern region SIBA competition.
Also our range of bottled beers continues to change with some new additions from Redemption added:
Ellenberg Ale No 1 (5.4%)
Redchurch Great Eastern IPA (7.4%)
Redchurch Shoreditch Blonde (4.5%)
Redemption Big Chief (5.5%)
Redemption Fellowship Porter (5.1%)
Cider fans will not be disappointed to see the return of the London Glider cider. Made from the ‘windfall’ apples of East London, not only is the cider very local but is also making use of a natural resource that would otherwise be left to rot.
Other drinks available; Guinness, Budweiser Budvar, Peroni.
Ciders; Magners, Thatchers plus Red, White and Rose wines.
NB – all products whilst stocks last.

We look forward to seeing you at the EOR.