West Somerset Autumn Steam Gala 1-4 Oct 2009

Hi All,

photos now uploaded:


http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1764406_1.html

Cheers,
Mark

 

I have uploaded a video to YouTube of the Friday at the gala between 0915 and 1545.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-07FIEaATs

The video starts at Teddy Bear Crossing, Williton and then moves on to Washford Bank. The full captions for the sequences are:-

5224 accelerates from Williton Station at Teddy Bear Crossing, Williton on the 0915 dep from MH;
5542 powers up the bank over the Mineral Railway Bridge, Watchet with the 1025 from BL;
‘Bradley Manor’ passes Old Cleeve descending the bank with the 1125 ex BL;
‘Pitchford Hall’ climbs past Old Cleeve hauling the 1220 dep ex MH;
‘KEI’ descends past Bye Farm with the 1315 departure from Minehead;
3850 storms past Bye Farm Crossing on the 1310 from BL;
At Kentsford Farm Crossing 5542 climbs the bank with the 1405 service from MH;
‘Nunney Castle’ makes a wonderful sound as it storms up the bank near Kentsford Farm Crossing;
Near Lower Washford, 6695 descends the bank with the 1500 departure from MH.

Filming then stopped because of poor and deteriorating lighting conditions.

I hope everyone enjoys the film and I‘m sorry about the intrusive wind noise on some shots.

Regards

 

Especially like the 'far off' shot of the king, very nice Mark!!!

 

A brilliant gala for GWR lovers, of which I'm one!
I spent a fantastic Saturday and Sunday at the gala and would like to thank everyone involved for putting on such a great show. Your work really is appreciated, thank you. I don't think I can pick a star engine, they were all talking really nicely on those gradients!
My photos are now on my fotopic site and a few of them show some footplate crews. I'd be grateful if anybody can name the people pictured if they could let me know so that I can name them in the captions.

Cheers,

Paul

 

west somerset autumn gala

Back from this 1st class gala after 10 days with the king what a great bunch of people work on w.s.r.and nunny castle we sure had a few good laughts,and the singer at the beach hotel on thursday night was great, my footplate ride on the king was awesome but
legs played up after so thought it best not to go up again,it not fun getting old L.O.L. thanks one and all for a great gala, well done.

 

Saturday -the fireman on 5542 is David Hurd; the driver on 5029 is Stuart Nelhams.

Sunday - the two chaps on the King are support crew mwembers Ron ?? on the left and Graham Virgin on the right.

The chap in light blue overalls inspecting 7802 is a member of the SVR support crew.

The fireman in the beret on 9351 is Jim Wilkinson

 

Thanks for all that Keith!
Also a big thanks to your and your colleagues for a memorable weekend.

Cheers,

Paul

 

SVR support crew member on 7802 is Passed Fireman Steve Jones.

 

thanks conireland!

 

I spent an excellent 3 days at the gala, taking pictures on Friday and travelling over the weekend, and must say it was the best WSR gala I have ever been too! The trains were kept to reasonable time, and when things did go wrong (I seemed to be on the trains that did go wrong!), the staff told us what was going on straight away and kept us updated, which is a vast improvement on previous years! All the locos were turned out brilliantly, although Nunney Castle did stand out as being the best!

The only little moan I have was that the same incident that occured on the non stop Rat run a few years back on a Mixed Traffic gala happened with the non stop King run on Saturday, that being the token for the WN-BA token being dropped at Wiliton again. In future to stop it from happening agian, could it be possible to do something like having someone at the up end of WN platform to collect the token from CH and someone at the down end of WN platform to give the token for BA. Less chance of dropping the token then if you only need to concentrate on one.

Apart from that it really was a great gala, and I'll be looking forward to going to some more of the WSR's GWR 175 galas next year!

 

Photos on fotopic site.

Hello All,

A collection of photographs I took during my visit to the West Somerset Railway's Autumn Steam Gala. 'GWR 175' The Prelude... on Saturday 3rd.October 2009 have now be uploaded to my fotopic site.
You are welcome to visit using this link; http://preservedrailwaylocomotivephotosbyrichardsmith.fotopic.net/c1764558.html
and hopefully enjoy.

Best regards SteamHawk216.

 

Thanks very much for the info which has now been added to my photos.

Regards,

Paul

 

4953 Pitchford Hall is scheduled to work this weekend on Saturday and Sunday, doing one return trip from Bishops Lydeard. Details of the timings will be on wsr.org.uk


Kind Regards

4953 Pitchford Hall Locomotive Society and Support Crew.

 

Yes Ann and I did drop in at BL last Weds on our way to MD and we did notice (and very much appreciate) your hard work in getting '95 looking so good. She is always so well looked after at WSR.

 

Just to say your loco was the best turned out at the ASG (imho)

 

west somerset gala

hi keith, second 6024 member was Ron Smith we all had a great time thanks one and all at the westsomerset railway,

 

VIDEO:WSR Autumn Steam Gala

I have uploaded a video to YouTube of the Saturday at the gala between 0945 and 1800.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czjJNgD2V0Q

The video starts at Minehead and includes a sequence of the workshop area. It then moves on to Ker Moor, Blue Anchor Station, Doniford Halt, Crowcombe Heathfield Station, Teddy Bear Crossing, Washford Station and back to Minehead. The full captions for the sequences are:-

In the Minehead yard engines are prepared for the day and ‘Bradley Manor’ shunts the OOS 6695 in the yard. There is a little footage of the workshop area;
At Ker Moor ‘Bradley Manor’ and ‘Nunney Castle’ double head the 1100 from MH;
At Blue Anchor, mainline pilot 9351 and 5542 double head the 1100 from BL in windy and wet conditions;
‘KEI’ drifts through Doniford Halt on the 1205 departure from BL;
At Crowcombe Heathfield 3850 arrives with the 1340 ex BL and 5224 is on the 1247 from MH;
Also at Crowcombe ’Pitchford Hall’ arrives and departs with the 1430 from BL;
From the Williton - A358 footpath opposite Teddy Bear Crossing, 5224 drifts towards Williton on the 1530 from BL;
5224 arrives at Washford with the very much delayed 1530 ex BL. ‘Kilmersdon’ shunts the yard;
At Minehead, engines are disposed after the day’s service.

I hope everyone enjoys the film.

Regards

 

I agree and the same to the support crew's and owners of all the other loco's we had lined up.

It was magical to see then all in one place. (well nearly - BL loco compound and station did look pretty special on several occasions between the 28th and the 30th Sept as we got everything ready even if you were only looking out from the disposal pit!)

 

VIDEO:WSR Autumn Steam Gala

I have uploaded a video to YouTube of the Sunday at the gala between 0930 and 1700.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP7vRU1FbSA

The video starts at Minehead and includes a sequence of 6695 and 5224 being turned, it being noticeable that only one person is actually pushing 6695 around! It then moves on to Castle Hill, Woolston Moor and finally Norvis Bridge on Crowcombe Bank. The full captions for the sequences are:-

In the Minehead yard ‘Nunney Castle’ is posing on the turntable while other engines are prepared for the day. 6695 and 5224 are turned;
At Castle Hill, ‘Nunney Castle’ heads the 1005 from MH; then, in succession, 9466 hauls the 1100 ex BL, ‘Bradley Manor’ is tender first on the 1100 departure from MH, and ‘KEI’ is downgrade on the 1205 from BL, while the last sequence at this location is of 5224 and 6695 double heading, bunker to bunker, the 1150 from MH;
At Woolston Moor, ‘Bradley Manor’ is returning with the 1240 from BL, and the two small prairie tanks 5542 and 5553 double head the 1247 ex MH;
On Crowcombe bank at Norvis Bridge, ’KEI’ and 4160 power the 1530 from BL up the bank, ’Pitchford Hall’ trundles downhill with the 1440 from MH, and 6695 is caught working hard on the 1625 ex BL. The final sequence at this location, and for me that of the weekend, is of ‘Nunney Castle’ drifting downgrade on the 1540 from MH.

So that’s it for this gala, I hope everyone has enjoyed the films.

Regards

 

Thank you very much, its rewarding to hear comments like that, and its good to see that people to like her, whether it was riding behind her, her performance on the trains, the sound or her appearance etc, she is a brilliant locomotive. The sound of 4953 climbing Crowcombe and Washford bank was amazing!! Its been a brilliant four days and its good to see her getting used again. Id like to thank the cleaners who helped us prepare 4953 with us at Bishops Lydeard MPD, Dave the Inspector at BL, the drivers and fireman in particular Stuart Nelhams ( I think i spelt that right?) Dave Williams, Alan Dorrington Steve Underhill too many names to list and we would love it if we would return in the not too distant future.

Kind Regards

Pitchford Hall Support Crew