Severn Valley Spring Steam Gala - 22/23/24 March 2013

Think I've warmed up from the cold weather. Was a good gala, but Friday's numbers certainly appeared to have been affected by the overnight snow. Hopefully though the figures still add up for the SVR. Star of the show for me was either 1501 which put in some impressive shows, or 5164 which looked the best engines by miles following her recent TLC. If she could be kept like that till the end of her ticket it would be nice, well done the Bewdley guys for your efforts there.

Only quibbles are the lack of heating on some of the trains, as it was certainly felt a bit more with the cold weather. Apart from that though well done for running as advertised despite the difficulties.

 

What a fantastic gala! Definitely one of my favourite in recent times, the snow just added to the experience for me.

Here's some of my shots from my three days in the Valley:


34007 Wadebridge by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


1450 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


65 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


65 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr


65 by Teenage Steam Photography, on Flickr

The rest can be found here: Flickr: Teenage Steam Photography's Photostream

Thanks,
Lewis

 

Well that was a challenging but great weekend. As I drove along a snowy single lane M1 down from North Yorkshire early Saturday morning, I did question my sanity of still going, but I'm so glad I made the effort. Thanks to all the SVR staff and volunteers who despite everything put on the full show. However I do think it will turn out to be the biggest loss making gala in the railway's history, the numbers for Saturday and Sunday were so low. Let's hope the railway can find some ways to quickly recover from this dent in the cash flow.
I was very grateful to all the cafes along the line, I've never drank so many cups of tea and cup a soups to keep warm

I decided to stuff it and walk to the places I had planned all along despite the conditions. Sometimes this worked out, others not so lucky. particularly gutting was walking to Rock cutting for the Pines express on the Sunday only for the wind to have its way as it often did and spoil the shot, but most came off and I feel a lot fitter after all those bracing hikes!

A small selection is here and my full collection (apart from some special images which I will show later can be found at SVR Spring Gala 2013 - a set on Flickr


Langtree Photography-003.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr


Langtree Photography-005.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr


Langtree Photography-014.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr


Langtree Photography-029.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr


Langtree Photography-001.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr


Langtree Photography-008.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr


Langtree Photography-048.jpg by Langtree Photography, on Flickr

 

If she's anything like the other one we've got, she'll go a damn sight better without the brick arch!

 

Really? Not in my experience! the arch is vital to it's performance.

 

A slightly belated message of appreciation for everyone (and I mean that literally) on the SVR that I encountered on Saturday, for providing a very enjoyable day in circumstances that must have been very trying at times. Being lucky enough to be able to walk there and back, I was able to risk the weather where some could not, and it paid off. It will certainly stay in my memory as a very memorable event. Also, a word of appreciation to the railway for the goodwill gesture in offering to exchange unused tickets for the equivalent day of the autumn gala or an open-dated ticket for normal timetables.

Very few problems to report, other than that it was not much warmer on board some of the trains than outside! Still, I have some good memories and some snapshots to look at, and after what for various personal reasons has been a hard few months, a nice day out was very welcome indeed. Personal highlights were Wadebridge (which I've never so much as seen before) and 1501 at an extremely snowy Arley in the early morning. If only it weren't so financially disastrous, I'd wish for weather like this in March more often!

 

Many thanks SVR for pulling out the stops in difficult circumstances on Saturday. I managed to get over from mid-wales (just!) and was rewarded by a memorable gala, if only for the conditions. A word of caution however, while it was obviously going to be tough to follow up last years Giants of Steam, I felt that the gala was missing the X factor of previous years. The timetable was a bit slack with fair bit of waiting around in stations (not great in the cold!) and this is the first gala I can ever remember in 20 years without a freight. The SVR has one of the finest goods trains in the country which is painfully under used, why oh why not use it at a gala? Also galas are supposed to be entertainment events. Perhaps I was unlucky, but 1501 and 65 were down to 10 - 15mph in places despite the timetable being 30 mins adrift. I was starting to wonder if there was fault with the loco(s) but 1501 stayed on services for the rest of the day. Nobody would advocate breaking of speed limits, but i do like to hear locos working, which i heard plenty of at the WSR gala the following day. This gala will always be remebered for the weather, which produced some special scenes at times, but aside from that, sadly it was never going to be one of the SVR's best. I have been attending SVR galas for 20 years, hopefully the autumn one will be back to the SVR's market leading standard.

 

Just a few pics here from a very enjoyable Gala indeed -

SVR Spring Steam Gala 22-24th.03.2013 - a set on Flickr

 

Some of that was the late running and the unwillingness to send things ahead.

Looks accusingly towards the marketing department
The sooner it is back the better

We were wondering ourselves. My train was held up by 1501 more often than not. We were making up time only for other trains to hold us up, still at least N set is one of the warmer ones.

Quite agree there.

 

It certainly appeared to be a cautious gala timetable wise, but there was still a bit of variety on show. Have to admit before the gala I was disappointed the last train left Bridgnorth just after 9pm, not giving much time for getting food & then a bit of time in the Railwayman's Arms if you arrived behind 65 or 80072. On the Friday though the trains ran late so we didn't have to rush into town for food, and we got some additional pints of Bathams too! Could this could be factored in for next year possibly? I understand not running 24/7 at the SSG, but couldn't the last train be booked to leave more nearer 10pm than 9pm? And maybe if I could be cheeky roster something a bit out of the ordinary? 80072 / 34007 on 7/8 was nice to see, but 1450/4566 DH would of been fun (or even 65 / 1501 DH if the bridge could take it?).

The Goods would of added something else to the gala as mentioned by others, with there being a number of LE moves between Kidder-Bewdley section could these paths not have been utilised for this maybe as an alternative to get the locos in the right place?

Don't want to detract too much from what was a good show in difficult circumstances mind. I still had a good day on the railway and I've only mentioned the above after noticing acorb's post.

 

I will point out that other structures have been added to the list of being dodgy for DHing, so don't expect many for the time being.

 

The goods didnt run due to the lack of motive power. 2857 was a lucky extra with the insurance company granting a repair.

 

Anyone from SVR know when 34007 'Wadebridge' is due to leave??