South Devon Railway 40th Anniversary Gala 5th-13 April

Ganger for any early visitors on Wednesday or Thursday can you confirm or otherwise whether the 09.10 from Buckfastleigh and return from Totnes at 09.50 auto train is now a public train.

 

These services are expected to be public tommorrow but not on Thursday.

 

These pics have been sent to me by Ganger fo your interest, Enjoy!![attachment=4:1249w1dt]DSCF0023.JPG[/attachment:1249w1dt][attachment=3:1249w1dt]DSCF0026.JPG[/attachment:1249w1dt][attachment=2:1249w1dt]DSCF0032.JPG[/attachment:1249w1dt][attachment=1:1249w1dt]DSCF0035.JPG[/attachment:1249w1dt][attachment=0:1249w1dt]DSCF0036.JPG[/attachment:1249w1dt]

 

Ganger posted:

We came along on Visiting Engine day and had a great time! =D> All your hard work is paying off - thankyou very much - looking forward to further visits on Sat and Mon

 

Home for one night to do laundry after one day on shed and fdour days firing and what a gala so far! Good to see people coming down! Starting to get tierd now only another four days on the shovel to go but what fun! Hope plenty of people on here come along to it! =D>

 

Yes I've already been twice on Sat and Sun I saw you wondering around the sheds setting up 6412 (or is that 6435??) with her wreaths etc, and in the Saloon at Totnes later in the day, Ganger seemed to be having fun firing 5542? as well.
Anyway I'll be back again tommorrow although slightly later than I anticipated but there all the ssame

 

As you would expect!!

John

 

Looking forward to a night on the ales tomorrow night and a ride on the auto trains...

Small request though - any chance of dropping the hood on the clay hood? Would look gret behind a Peak (with 30 others!) but not behind steam.

Cheers,

 

The owner of said hood's about today; he might not take kindly to his pride and joy being out of sight!

 

About to head for a few days in South Devon. I can't wait. Hope to meet a few people down there, I'm the very tall gay with short black hair.

Good luck for the weekend SDR. (I'm camping so please don't rain!)

 

Another excellent gala day
Thanks to the friendly crew of 6695--Rod/Russell/Nigel--who made the visit even more special.
Everything was just right

 

Like the photos of 6695

Ann

 

I see from the working timetable for Sunday April 12 the following loco's are rostered. Can anyone advise which are facing Buckfastleigh and which are facing Totnes. Sorry if it has been mentioned in a previous post.

Mike

 

All locos face Totnes, except 1369 and 3803 which are chimney to Ashburton

 

Thank you, I will look forward to tomorrow.

 

some photos from sunday at http://keyhamtrain.fotopic.net

 

Nice shots there - good use made of the weather. I liked the double headed prairie plus pannier, both in BR black. I don't usually like double headers because they tend to look silly, but these looked fine. Perfectly credible combination for a Sunday School special to the seaside in days of normal BR operation!

John

 

Well done all - a great gala which certainly showed the railway at its' best. I don't think any other railway puts as much attention into providing historically correct formations and it pays off. In particular I liked the early morning one coach trains. Any chance of a milk train next year? Also a very friendly welcome from all staff.

Only disappointment was the beer festival on Friday night. Great beer but a dark cold DMU coach is not the best place to spend a Friday night when with your Wife and Mum. The Tetley Mild should have been on a handpump and why was a video of the Log Farewell on constantly? It was a steam gala so if deemed necessary perhaps something more appropriate could have been shown. Also the auto train should have had working lights (but at least it was warm!).It will be very hard to presaude family members to go back which is a a shame as I would like to support the gala as much as possible. A final slight moan - why do so many members have to wear hi-vis when on Staverton platform? Other railways insist on all staff removing such items when off the track and it would certainly improve the ambience at fantastic Staverton. Please don't take these items as criticisim but just ideas for improvements. It was a great gala!

 

Hello KEYHAMTRAIN and all other enthusiasts,

Enjoyed viewing your photos from the South Devon Railway 40th Anniversary Gala 5th-13 April =D> . I was there too on Sunday and my collection of photos are now available on my website http://preservedrailwaylocomotivephotos ... topic.net/ for anyone to view and hopefully enjoy =P~ .

Best regards SteamHawk216.

 

For the 2 days I was there I had a great time. The staff and volunteers were as welcoming as ever. Nigel really enjoyed the cider and beer on Saturday night. Whilst I enjoyed firing 6695's last trip up from Totnes. I think I am making a habit of firing her last trip at gala's. Thanks to all the crews for making Nigel, Oli and myself very welcome. For me though the highlight was meeting 2 female firemen who were very good and listened when I told them how 6695 likes to be fired. It was a pleasure to sit back and watch. Please invite us back we would love to come. =D> =D> \/ \/