Severn Valley Railway Autumn Steam Gala 14th-17th September 2023

Appreciate the honesty above. Agree there was probably too many shunting procedures to complete and not enough time built in to recover any lost time.
I do however appreciate the ambition, as others have said this felt like a 'proper' SVR gala, with loads going on everywhere you looked. Need to find a happy medium somewhere, I don't envy your job there!

 

Was surprised there was no opportunity to change trains at Kidderminster when the Bridgnorth train arrived at 8.30 am.

The unexpected foul up, allowed me to take advantage of the cooked breakfast on the next service

 

Another long trek down to the SVR yesterday 16th September for the Autumn steam gala, made longer with rail replacement buses on Trans Pennine route
https://tinyurl.com/3e7drzp2
timetable slipped a bit due to both a local passenger & goods train due into Highley at about the same time, the train I was on had to wait outside Highley station for all the running round to be completed, arriving into Bridgnorth station about 40 minutes down, but a great day out nevertheless
Neil

 

There's a 35p fee for using the app?

 

Timetables? Where we're going Marty we don't NEED timetables!

Enjoyed Friday and Saturday, but echo comments above about the lack of urgency at times. More than once saw a train somewhere with a clear signal, a token ready and them just hanging around even though they were already very late. Just seemed a bit odd, but there we go.

Photos & videos to come when ready.

 

Just because a signal is clear and token in hand doesn't mean a railway should be dispatching trains, probably just going to sit at the next station anyway.

The WSR used to do this all the time at their late running galas from Minehead, only for trains to be waiting at Blue Anchor for yonks.

 

Photo attached arriving at Eardington with the 13.30 Highley to Bridgnorth ,with GWR coaches .I spent most of the day at the very busy Eardington. station .It was the first weekend open for passenger trains for 41 years ,full marks for the lady car park shunter for fixing everyone with a place to park. Weather for photo's very dismal, mist and low cloud.

 

I visited yesterday and had a good day, certainly much more positive than negative. The weather wasn't great and I'm sorry for those who were doing photo/video work as it was so grey and flat much of the time. But I didn't get properly rained on until about 5pm, which was something! As ever I'd like to thank everyone who was on duty for contributing towards such an excellent event. A lot going on, which isn't always the case even at galas, and I never found myself bored for 45 minutes with nothing happening.

That said, the timetable didn't work very well, I think we were almost an hour and a half down by the time I called it a day at around 8.30pm. However I want to join in the appreciation for 2857Harry (on behalf of the group) for acknowledging the fact so openly. I have a lot of time for that. You can go too far to the other extreme after all - I remember a gala some years ago where every single service was a straightforward full-line run. There may have been reasons for it, I can't recall exactly, but it certainly got a bit samey.

I hope the numbers for the gala were good, although I was mildly surprised at being able to get a seat on every train I travelled on, something which is not always the case on a gala Saturday. I don't know what the situation was on the 09.00 with 61306 though since I chose to have the breakfast. This was very enjoyable indeed, with the staff on serving duties dealing superbly with one or two slightly abrupt stops! Definitely something I'd recommend assuming the option remains in future years.

Catering was fine for the most part, and always nice to see the kiosk at Highley stay open into the evening. Apparently they no longer offer pasties as they just didn't sell enough in past years which is a pity, but the bacon rolls were top drawer. The mini beer festival (not all that mini in terms of the number of ales on offer) in the Engine House was excellent, and I'm sure plenty of people were happy it was inside given the iffy weather! I didn't end up alighting at Eardington because of those weather concerns, but it was really great to see it in operation again. I don't know the future plans for using Eardington, but hopefully there are some.

Apart from those timetable issues, my only real minus is that I wasn't especially keen on Bewdley station at around 8pm. Probably a knock-on of the delays, but it felt noisier and rowdier than previous gala Saturdays at the same hour - and call me old-fashioned but I'd have liked people to watch their language more when there were still a few kids around. Plus I absolutely *hated* the massive, very bright spotlight someone was using to light (stationary) locos for photography. Extremely uncomfortable when it shone in my eyes and ruined my dark adaptedness for a couple of minutes each time. I don't know what policy is about those, but I wouldn't cry any tears if they went away and didn't return.

None of this means I had a bad day, as I had quite the reverse. I really enjoyed the range of locos in operation as well, the Bagnall and the S160 seemed to get an awful lot of attention and it's a shame the latter isn't able to run today. Thank you once again to those who worked very hard on this event. That did show.

 

The Valley gala timetable falling apart is almost traditional and all part of the fun. I wanted to photograph the S160 but unfortunately I’m on holiday in Portugal, chose the wrong two weeks.

 

Some footage from Friday and Saturday

 

The running really has been a disaster on Sunday. I am afraid the SVR has rather a poor reputation in this regard.

Currently one hour late on 34027 at Hampton Loade. Will tank up at the Railwaymans for a return but no idea what or when.


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I haven't been this year for various logistical reasons, but an hour down late on Sunday afternoon doesn't seem that bad to me.

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That's a bit unfair, it is very rare for the SVR to be over an hour late without a major issue of some sort.
I can't think of any other railway which would even contemplate the amount of services the SVR has attempted this weekend - no it hasn't quite worked, but I am glad they tried and @2857Harry has already stated that lessons have been learnt for next time.

 

Really enjoyed 2 and a bit days at the event. Lessons to be learned with the timetable but these things happen. Thank you to all who made it happen from train crews to carriage cleaners and everyone in between.

 

Had an enjoyable day today but the communication at Kiddy this morning around 8am was non-existent
Trains were already late but no one was telling passengers what was going on
Some were even told the 0830 train was the 0900!
Looks like even the staff didn't know what was going on

 

Photos now up at https://railwaygalleries.smugmug.com/Severn-Valley-Railway/Autumn-Steam-Gala-September-2023/, a selection follow...

 

Same as the big railway, so its authentic,