WSR Spring Gala 2009

why not have the charter train arrive at bishops lydeard and the stock stay there? but in other years main line charter(s) have arrived at minehead and been ok in the timetable!!!! maybe this year was a one off for late running, it's also an easy day for family's to come to the gala for a few hours then having to drive a long way that is no fun.

I had a very good time on all six day of the gala, seeing 60019+4936 working on the same train was well different, sounded good on the hill into crowcombe tho.

the A4 size timetables were on sale for 20p a day, (I managed to get one each day easyer to read!!!) and not spoiling the nice coloured book.

a very good mix of locos this year and good weather making it one of the best wsr spring galas for a few years, well done to keith and the team for putting on the event.

mark

 

I would tend to agree with you there Lil Bear - the WSR Galas play to a different audience to, say, the SVR or SDR ones. At the WSR, its all very locomotive-based....they go to great efforts each time to hire in visiting locos - anything from 'Martello' to 'Tornado'! Operationally, the gala timetable is very predictable and straightforward...just a standard peak season timetable, with every crossing loop in action, and loco changes at each end. Its all about big locos, working hard on the gradients, as far as I can see...and is a market that the WSR captures well. Other than for 'themed' galas, the selection of visitors that the WSR go for are usually pretty random...a Bullied, black 5, hall and an A4 is a pretty eclectic mix! They tend to go for the big names (eg Royal Scot, Tornado), knowing that they will bring the punters in.

Go to an SVR September gala however, and its completely different...the focus is on doing things that are operationally 'different' - sit at Bewdley on a Gala afternoon to see what I mean! Loco changes, trains dividing into separate portions, goods, parcels workings, banking, doubleheading....you get my drift. The emphasis here seems to be much more on recreating an operational steam railway (showcasing its operational flexibility) - ie putting on a good show, rather than just dragging in a few big names. After all, it is a bit of theatre really!

The best galas (in my opinion) are when the two elements are brought together....a fantastic loco lineup, with a railway that is willing to do things operationally that are 'a bit different'. Two examples come to mind...the Churnet Valleys February gala being one. Such a different lineup to usual, with something for everyone (from 45231 to Ring Haw, via an S160 and a DMU! Plus more), being used on a variety of passenger and goods workings - with banking (proper banking, too - not top and tail) on every train out of Kingsley and Froghall. In a word - brilliant! They really played to what enthusiasts wanted, too....with cheap lineside passes, a nightshoot, trains on their little-used freight only section, bacon butties etc by the bucketload, evening trains, and a vintage bus link to the nearest NR connection. Another example is the SDR 40th Gala coming up...they could so easily just run a standard two train timetable, with loco changes at each end and the odd auto. Yet look at the adventurous WTTs (available from the website) - you've got goods workings (of three separate varieties), at least four passenger sets, doubleheading, auto trains, trains passing and overtaking each other at Bishops Bridge...the list goes on. Just being able to sit and watch the action will be fantastic!

The two together combine to make an excellent gala - the WSR however, plays only to the 'big locos' brigade. Which seems to work for them, so fair dos to 'em! =D>

 

As one half of Kinlets support crew (thanks ben) i have to say that whatever your views on charters/chimney or tender first etc etc, remember the time and effort that goes into these events is imense. That we can have an impromptu 600019/4936 double header is something that we should be proud to be able to do in the 21st century. The WSR is one of the top lines in the country without question and deserves to be applauded. As an aside, it was great to make some new freinds, convert a certain person to say a west country is not a bad bit of Kit afterall and to get to have a go on the shovel when the handle's against the stop. The old girl at 80 can still chop em off.

 

A fantastic weekend was had visiting the railway, really enjoyed it with Kieran, even if he did break the car (Thank to him for the driving he did do) hahaha.

Sunday was superb weather and was perfect all day to get some cracking footage, the Scot looked fabulous in it's current livery

Was a fantastic ride behind 6100 and 45231 on Saturday evening, really enjoyed it. And the 600 mile round trip was well worth it, great gala guys!

I've uploaded a couple of shots from either day, however all the footage will be available on the "Spring Steam 2009 DVD" which will be released at the end of April.

Saturday's Footage
Sunday's Footage

 

Pics from Sat and Sun are now online here -
http://www.wsr.steampics.com/html/wsrspring09.html

Tim.

 

The SDR gala is basically a two train timetable though. They have just shoved two autos to Staverton and return from Buckfastleigh in the middle and some Goods trains in the morning and one in the afternoon, on Easter Sunday anyway.

The WSR can't really do much where the timetable is concerned, but if Minehead-Dunster was doubled (or at least part), a Blue Anchor shuttle could run, passing on the Minehead side of Dunster with the main sets. If Leigh Loop was relaid maybe BL-Williton shuttles could happen, but these all cost money and would probably need signal boxes to be built. I would like to see a Goods train on Saturdays/Sundays of Galas at the WSR mind, if they can find a path for railtours why can't this be done with Goods? Even if the Goods ran at like 0730 from Minehead and 1900 from BL, I think people would still see these as Goods trains are rare to see there currently.

 

The Dunster shunt didn't happen this year, which is always an attraction in itself.
I noticed 4160 didn't play a part in the gala at all. Is it broken?
Of course to do anything other than what happens on a gala day now means a path is lost. The charter used a path and that then puts about 90 minutes between service trains which is arguably too long on the Saturday of a big event. Unfortunately the WSR doesn't have a station with three platforms where something can be held over prior to running a local service such as Bewdley does on the SVR. However, I think all the preserved lines have their own appeal which is why we enjoy visiting them.
I know long term the re-instatement of Kentsford and Leigh loops is desirable but this would of course be big bucks. But as Keith said, the triangle should hopefully be ready for next year's Spring gala so the line will definitely be able to offer something else that can't be matched.
My favourite part about the souvenir programme was in the piece relating to 'Kinlet Hall'. It states that it is hoped that 7828 'Odney Manor' will be back in action after overhaul for the Autumn gala. Fingers crossed. It will be great to see 'Odbod' back in action. \/

Paul

 

The Mighty Kings and I had a great time and apart from the problems on Saturday, everything worked out well, even the weather for a change, especially on the Thursday and Sunday. As can be seen from the above posts it is impossible to please all the people all of the time but credit must be given to the SEPT for all the hard work in putting the event together. Special mention also to those at Crewe and the WSR who performed a minor miracle to get 6100 running and looking so good as can be seen by my pic at Williton on the Thursday below. I'm sure the 200 or so miles of reliable running over the weekend will have helped in getting the engine run in nicely. Even the failure of 3850 didn't throw things too much with the WSR having the very able cover in the form of 9351, the sound from this impressive machine climbing away from Stogumber on Sunday was well worth hearing, so too 6695 and of course the hall chimney music from Kinlet starting its train from the station - awesome.

Mike.

 

With saturdays tricky conditions for sound recording I soon pack away the camcorder for the sunday, the result being only ohoto's on the saturday and all my photo's from the sunday are from the camcorder, saying that I managed to get some good photo's out it on the sunday and some of the saturday ones turned out ok, as already mentions the best on saturday were tender first due the weather. Only started on editing the camcorder footage but it is looking HOT, you will get an idea by looking at some of the photo's.




Full gallery @
http://kenneth-f-baker.fotopic.net/c1675227.html

Must say, 6100 was well worth the 600 mile round jouney alone.

 

Another great gala at the WSR. A spirited run behind 9351 and 88 on the Saturday afternoon( running ahead of the charter on the return)was the highlight. Closely followed by run behind 6100 & 45231.The availability of hot food was better than previous gala's - bought from the pasty van at Minehead. They just need a beer tent at one of the Stations.

What about having a goods train running from Minhead to Washford,and having a shunt in the sidings?

My photo's can be found at http://paul-simpson.fotopic.net/.
My favourite is this one of Bittern at Minehead, after shunting the charter,taken from a crowded platform.http://paul-simpson.fotopic.net/p57219723.html

 

4160 having work undertaken on piston-valves /steam chests, partly why 6695 remained at WSR as spare/cover loco.

I believe WSR has to run every available path with passenger trains on gala weekends to cope with the demand and this time hiring in extra coaches so as run 7 and 8 coach trains. There were serious overcrowding issues at last year's Autumn Gala and this has certainly been addressed on this Spring Gala. The long section from Williton to Blue Anchor is a problem and the reinstatement of an intermediate loop would increase flexibility but at what cost?
SEPT do a grand job and I'm sure they will take on board many of the comments, lets see what they can come up with for this Autumn.

Personally I had a great time and echo Ann's thanks to all at WSR for their hospitality, good for 6695 to have some decent loadings for a change! The 'Riviera' set is heavy and is 8 equal to 9, you certainly feel it on the banks. We had a really cracking run back from BL on the Friday afternoon piloting 5553.

 

I thought of that one too but on reflection I don't think it would work. Imagine 12 coaches of charter train passengers detraining at BL and trying to squeeze into the next service train (8 coaches at most) on top of the other punters!

 

Agree with you that mixing up things makes life more interesting. However to be fair the WSR has done a few things like this particularly on the Thursdays/Fridays of some previous galas where there have been smaller engines (e.g. Terriers) working MD-BL shuttles and there have been auto trains running over part of the line. However as numbers attending the galas have grown over the last few years there seems to be a need to just run big trains over the whole length of the line on Saturdays and Sundays.

I guess comparisons with the Severn Valley are inevitable but as someone else rightly points out the layout of that railway is quite different. The 3rd platform at Bewdley plus the loop at Highley make it easy to run shorter trains over part of the line only.

As for playing to the "big locos" brigade - the recent Severn Valley gala with DoG, Cromwell, Gresley and Nunney surely did that!

 

Yes but surely the point of the goods trains is to provide something for the photographers. What is the point of having one heading off just as it's getting dark and tender first? That's what 45231 was doing when I left on Friday evening.

 

Yes it does seem to be an attractive proposition - except that the charter stock needs somewhere to berth at Bishops Lydeard (the only suitable track for a lengthy train is the Norton road, which would effectively prevent the popular Norton shutles); and the charter stock needs to be serviced during the layover (platform 2 at Lydeard has servicing equipment but is, of course, the main platform for WSR services and frequently occupied during Galas).

Requests for incoming charters during Galas present difficult decisions for the WSR. There is no doubt a trainload of excursionists is extremely welcome and difficult to resist!

The WSR is considering more loops, probably the re-instatement of Kentsford and Leigh loops, but as ever it is a balance between costs and revenue. Mind, if/when a TOC runs through to Minehead on a daily basis, the loops will need to go in, else even the simplest daily WSR service would be stretched.

I'm not sure if re-doubling the Dunster to Minehead section would help relieve traffic congestion. In any case, I have a personal wish to see broad gauge laid on the former up formation with an out-and-back demonstration train operating from Dunster. A man can dream...

Steve
(WSW)

 

I have just about recovered from four days down at the Gala which as always was an immensely enjoyable if not challenging experience.It was enjoyable because the line up of locomotives was impressive,the scenery along the line is delightful and meeting so many friends old and new lineside is always a pleasure.It was challenging because as ever the weather made photography difficult at times with very strong gusting winds and squally showers blowing the smoke down onto the trains and rain into the lens! Ok ,we did have long sunny periods of nice weather but these always seemed to coincide with long periods of inactivity on the line or when smokebox first shots were lacking.At times it was very cold indeed waiting lineside but the quick and ready repartee from linesiders kept our spirits up.I have been a regular at Galas long enough to know that the almost impossible task of keeping everyone happy must be a nightmare for those who organise and schedule trains and the WSR have to be congratulated for keeping trains running pretty well to time apart from some slippage due to that charter (oh dear those diesels!) on saturday.As a photographer I know that I have no right to expect that the railway will be set up for just for me but there seemed to be some things which could and should have been thought about. Royal Scot was probably the biggest draw and yet on saturday the only time it ran smokebox first it was paired with another loco. If I had travelled down for the day as many did I may have felt somewhat shortchanged .On sunday the biggest travesty must have been Kinlet Hall tender first out of BL in glorious morning light.I wonder how many linesiders put away their videos and still cameras at this wasted opportunity,I personally know several that did. The weather on sunday was good and we all got some nice pictures but that was a dreadful start especially when we had foregone a lie in and driven across from Dunster to see KInlet Hall!
So there you have my views from the lineside for what they are worth. I only make these points in the hope that in future some extra thought could be given to these sorts of issues.Incidentally I must congratulate the railway for the amount of trimming and cutting back done along the line which has improved visibility no end,well done and keep up the good work.If you want to see my pictures they are at:

http://steamgalore.fotopic.net/c1675440.html

 

Its obviously impossible to please everyone, and in recent years the WSR has put on some great galas; but having set a high standard it is going to be difficult to maintain the momentum.
Im sure the organisers will pick up on the critical observations on here - some can be corrected quite easily, but those suggesting reinstating loops may have to wait some time -- this will be expensive, but who knows what will follow the completion of the Norton triangle.
Anyway, I had a great time down there - despite the mixed weather, and thanks to all concerned.
Here is a selection of the action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UUQ8kS3zbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stbuw2pL_SU

 

With just the t.t at MH , you're obviously going to get some tender first working, I cant quite see what the staff at BL could have done , hired in a crane perhaps? Until then we'll have to wait & see if the triangle can be used in future galas.
I'm glad you enjoyed the rest of it though.

 

Yes I agree. I was at Avril Bridge (just outside Dunster) and was so gutted when I saw 4936's tender leading the train. Would of had a great video if she had been forwards! No video of her forwards at the gala ](*,)

 

Latest photos on http://www.wsr.org.uk/cgi-bin/gallery.c ... &t=newspix

show that Royal Scot 6100 has been turned at Minehead, although I thought the gala info stated it was too heavy for the tt. Anyone able to clarify?