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Severn Valley ASG 20th-22nd September 2013

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by Andy2857, Nov 12, 2012.

  1. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Some pictures from Friday and Saturday: http://daviddepperphotography.zenfolio.com/p494959431#h73cddc03

    Overall it seemed a good gala to me, well done to whoever decided to take the night services up to load 5 from the 4 in previous years, certainly finding a seat to get some doss behind 2857 was no trouble.
     
  2. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Looks like she left under her own power, seen a phot of her solo at Stourbridge.
     
  3. simon

    simon Resident of Nat Pres

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    Its my view and your post does nothing to dispel it. The trains were very crowded, paths were used for freight which could have eased the overcrowding and trains using part of the line only often waste paths. Terminating trains at Highley pours a train full of people into what you admit is a location ill equipped to cope with them.
    See the diesel gala timetable for the way to organise things when you are expecting the trains to be busy.
     
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  4. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    In my experience, you can run as many passenger trains as you like, but Highley is still going to be cramped at certain times due to the attraction of stopping off there and the layout of a short platform in which only 50% of the train fits, accessed by a single footbridge.

    It's seeing a far greater amount of visitors than it was ever designed for, and it shows at gala's, even if you don't terminate/start shuttle there, there's still plenty getting on and off the through services.

    A Diesel gala isn't a good comparison as they have totally different idea's about what they want, the average steam enthusiast wants to see as many aspects of the steam railway as possible, diesel cranks just want as much mileage behind their loco as possible with as much dead weight as possible for added thrash.
     
  5. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Well-Known Member

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    I don't understand why there were spare paths and what's the point of shunting trains into the sidings at Arley? There's enough time to run ECS to Highley at least, if not enough to detrain there then empty to the siding, and also then you can use more than two coaches.

    Why in the end did set M run as 6 coaches when it was down as 8?
     
  6. simon

    simon Resident of Nat Pres

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    I think that is a generalisation. I attend both. Whilst I like to see freight running, if it screws up the timetable meaning you can end up kicking your heals for an hour or two its not a good thing.
     
  7. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    6233 'Duchess of Sutherland' departed Kidderminster on time, now running 1 min early passing Burton on Trent at 13:11.
    As you say, loco and support coach only. <BJ
     
  8. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Fair point, but at diesel gala's you won't find anything other than passenger trains running, even shunters doing 200 yards here and there.

    Thinking about it, Highley would be unlikely to be such an issue during a diesel gala anyway, I can't see many diesel cranks getting off during a gala to spend a couple of hours looking at out of ticket steam loco's.

    Of the years I've been attending the ASG now, it seems no matter how you tweak the WTT from year to year, it's almost impossible to please all the people all the time
     
  9. Jeff Albiston

    Jeff Albiston Member

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    Returned home from the SVR yesterday after 3 excellent action packed days. The visiting engines that impressed me were 'Cheltenham' and 'Kinlet Hall'. With the Duchess having problems on the Friday morning, 4936 was placed on it's trains, and gave an incredible performance going up Eardington. Out of the SVR home fleet, 5164 was by far the star of the show in her last Gala appearance before she bows out for overhaul. Friday & Saturday nights with 5164 on 10 coaches was something to savour for.

    A big thank you to all staff & volunteers at the SVR for putting on another fantastic Steam Gala. Looking forward to coming back in March 2014. :)
     
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  10. LMarsh1987

    LMarsh1987 Part of the furniture Friend

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    Sounds like you had a great time and i echo your comments about 4936 being one of the star performers from the weekend. I also have footage of Kinlet Hall's storming run up Eardington Bank as it reached speeds of 35mph as it made time up after replacing the Duchess. Video is in this thread if your interested on reliving the Fridays run. Regards, Liam
     
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  11. lil Bear

    lil Bear Part of the furniture

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    Agree with you about the timetable, personally I felt was rather conservative in comparison to previous events. Maybe a result of the bad gala in the Spring? Felt just an additional local from Kidder would have helped, as there were long breaks in service particularly in the Southern half which didn't help ease the crowds. Sunday though was the worse, where the LTD diner with 4 Toplights for Joe Public, and MET1 with 2x LMS were the full line services in the middle of the afternoon. I understand the attraction to run such trains, but in the middle of the afternoon when your passenger numbers are greatest it didn't really work well especially when an old guy gets on and starts pushing people to make more space for himself. The 4x main sets could really do with being kept at 8 coaches during the busy part of the day (12-4pm ish) with the more enthusiast based trains being run early morning/evening times.

    Apart from the above niggles though, I felt this was one of the best SVR Galas (though 2008/10 are still the ones to beat IMO). The Hall was impressive all weekend, but loco of the weekend goes to 5164. Not just for her looks but her 2 performances on 10 coaches both Friday/Saturday. What a sound and she will be sorely missed when she gets withdrawn in 2014. Keeping the night set to 5 coaches like last year was appreciated too, though the fireman on 7812 Saturday night seemed to forget there was an extra coach as we had a midnight stop at Victoria Bridge for a blow up! At least it' a nice part of the line to stop mind. Seeing the Goods be varied in length throughout the weekend was good too, and hope this feature is kept for 2014.

    Cheers to the Bewdley guys for the fun on Friday morning, got the gala off to a good start and enjoyed the beers later on in the evening. And thanks to the rest of the SVR guys for putting on a good show overall. Look forward to what you come up with next year.
     
  12. MikeParkin65

    MikeParkin65 Member Friend

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    Shown on another forum to have run under its own steam with no diesel. Does anyone know why it is fit to run on the mainline but not the SVR?
     
  13. lil Bear

    lil Bear Part of the furniture

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    Loco is air braked, but SVR only has Vacuum stock. She can create Vacuum as she has slave Vac system if I remember correctly, so it must be this that has failed hence she couldn't work trains on the Sunday.
     
  14. MikeParkin65

    MikeParkin65 Member Friend

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    That sounds feasible - thanks for the info. I'm sure they would have run if they could so it had me puzzled!
     
  15. threelinkdave

    threelinkdave Well-Known Member

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    46233 in Butterly at 14.44 - 46 early. Info from Realtime rains.

    As to the brake problem I heard three or four stories. I am led to believe the most likely, I might well be wrong, that the problem was with the air pump. 46233 may well be like a diesel where brake control is air with vacuum operating proportionally. Therefore no air no loco brakes and no control of vac . The Dutchess spent most of sun over Bewdley pit so perhaps the problem was fixed
     
  16. Macko

    Macko Member

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    Great weekend as always, we are so lucky to have such a great trainset to play with!

    Not everything went to plan including the weather and I do have some constructive comments to make about the timetable but I will save that for another thread as I don't want to detract from the warm feelings after a good weekend on the railway.

    Some images from the weekend:

    Power of the Duchess
    [​IMG]
    York Loco Images 290613-0994.jpg by York Loco-images, on Flickr

    Polished to perfection; is this loco really ready to retire? Not our latest carriage tucked in behind at Hampton Loade
    [​IMG]
    York Loco Images 290613-1015.jpg by York Loco-images, on Flickr

    When the Sun came out it really shone, Met No.1 gleaming at Oldbury viaduct
    [​IMG]
    York Loco Images 290613-1026.jpg by York Loco-images, on Flickr

    Night goods .... 7812 Erlestoke Manor on a Shrewsbury - Kidderminster goods sits in the loop at Highley and as the fireman and signalman exchange some banter, the passenger train passes north. After a few minutes, a shriek form the whistle and the goods clanks off down the valley towards Arley, the sound of the loco and wagons bumping along being heard for several minutes. This is the SVR at its best

    [​IMG]
    York Loco Images 290613-101.jpg by York Loco-images, on Flickr

    Lazy Sunday afternoon by the river ... except for Tom Clarke on the footplate of course!

    [​IMG]
    York Loco Images 290613-1187.jpg by York Loco-images, on Flickr

    Special Goods ... or Little and Large make their way home in a glorious Sunset light at the end of the gala

    [​IMG]
    York Loco Images 290613-1201.jpg by York Loco-images, on Flickr

    The rest of the set can be found here:

    http://flic.kr/s/aHsjJBfFFn

    Cheers

    Duncan
     
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  17. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    Has she really been out for nearly a decade ? where's that time gone ?!.

    Loving that shot of the Manor at Highley above too.
     
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  18. 5944

    5944 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I overheard a few comments that the timetable was too confusing. Having two diners departing Kiddy in a row seemed a bit odd to me, especially as one only had 4 coaches available for gala passengers. The biggest problem at Highley seemed to be that local services were arriving and departing there, whereas before they've terminated at Arley or Hampton Loade and run through to the loop at Highley instead of the platform. Standing on the footbridges is a problem too - one guy said they needed a Sheffield Park style footbridge at Bridgnorth to accomodate all the drinkers congregating up there on Saturday night!

    I'd personally rather see the steam gala timetable resemble the diesel gala one. Full length trips with shuttles from Kiddy to Bewdley, both passenger and goods, and having the full length trips connecting at Kiddy, rather than passing in the loop outside.

    Other than that, I enjoyed the gala. Plenty of mileage behind the visitors, glad to hear 4936 is staying for a while. Good idea to finally make the overnight trains 5 coaches long, though I'm still amazed they use two of the noisier locos on them! The breakfast in 7511 on the 07.00 from Bridgnorth on Sunday was rather nice too.
     
  19. theonlyadsrulz

    theonlyadsrulz Member

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    Considering how much has been said about the problems with overcrowding at Highley, is there not a case for extending the platform, maybe in the Bridgnorth direction? I'll admit I don't know if there are things stopping this from being a possibility, but surely even just enough to get two more coaches on would relieve some of the crowding that usually gets experienced at these galas. It certainly wouldn't be the first SVR station to get a platform extension seeing as Bridgnorth has had one, not sure when that was done though. And I'm sure if it was done in the right way it wouldn't ruin the aesthetics of the station.
     
  20. david1984

    david1984 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I think a problem with connecting at Kiddy is some of the larger engines are not fond of the curve in the run round loop of platform 2, could do a shunt release with the 08 ?.

    What do you mean Sheffield Park style footbridge anyway Nigel ?.
     

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