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WSR Spring Steam Gala Fri 28th April to Mon 1st May

Discussion in 'Galas and Events' started by SebWelsh, Feb 10, 2023.

  1. ikcdab

    ikcdab Member Friend

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    What a fantastic gala! Well up to the standards of previous years. Today the sun shone, the passengers were smiling and happy and the trains looked brilliant. We did a couple of round trips today, hopping on and off, and although we got home a little late, we had a great day. Enjoyable breakfast and cream teas later on. Well done to all, you should be very pleased and proud. Excellent stuff, the WSR was at its best.
    Ian Coleby
     
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  2. OldSchoolTrains2

    OldSchoolTrains2 New Member

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    Positives firstly: I had a ticket for Friday but my son was really ill overnight so I emailed the railway asking about changing my booking to Monday, really not expecting it to be possible. So I was delighted and so grateful to get a quick positive response.

    Today that illness caught up with my daughter but my wife was keen I still got out to use my ticket for the afternoon. Unfortunately the combination of late running (things seemed to start slipping with 9466 and 2999's Norton run round and order swap) and things getting rougher at home meant I ended up just doing a BL-NF-CH-BL run that included a lot of time waiting for delayed trains before making a swift exit.

    That combination meant that in terms of my own experience it won't go down as a great WSR gala trip - but almost entirely due to non-railway circumstances. The line-up and original timetable were both great and my original planned full day Friday would - from what a very poorly 1-year-old and I watched on Railcam - have been a brilliant day and great value I'm sure.

    On the subject of value, I had no idea ordinary returns and station hops were still available on gala days, I assumed like so many lines WSR galas were now rovers only. I'll always do a full rover day but as I live very close knowing those tickets are available is a great incentive to for instance squeeze in a BL-CH trip after or before work on another gala day where that's all the time I have and wouldn't be doing enough to justify a two day rover.

    And on my brief visit today I did at least achieve my main goal of seeing 2999 for the first time, having missed it at the SVR in 2021 because my daughter broke her leg the day before I was going. What a stunning engine aesthetically and noise wise.

    The 5mph slack in the landslip area is obviously very tough for the railway...but speaking entirely selfishly, that virtual standing start mid-climb was wonderful.

    Biggest loss from my truncated visit was basically no time with 21C127. Don't suppose it's hanging around for any normal running days...?
     
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  3. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    its rebuilt and so not a Spam
     
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  4. gricerdon

    gricerdon Well-Known Member

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    And is 2999 staying for a while?
     
  5. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    I was fortunate to visit the railway on Friday and Monday. I thoroughly enjoyed both days although a little disappointed about the amended timetable yesterday.

    The staff and passengers I met appeared to be thoroughly enjoying the gala, the amazing scenery and the beautiful weather.

    To me the star of the show was Lady of Legend. She looked and sounded superb. What a bark!!

    Many thanks to the WSR, organisers and volunteers. Give yourselves a good pat on your backs. <BJ>
     
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  6. Colin Allcars

    Colin Allcars Member

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    I rode on the trains Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They were mostly quite full, busier than I can remember at a gala. People seemed genuinely happy with the locos, trains, timetable and the weather (Friday and Saturday). Breakfast on Sunday morning on the Quantock Belle was delicious, as was the cream tea at Stogumber in the sun on Friday. The scenery looked wonderful in the sun, spring being a little later in Somerset.

    Lady of Legend seemed to need holding back and sounded good. Erlestoke Manor was louder than I have heard a Manor sound. 9466 was a welcome returnee and seemed to be running well. 9351 was its usual solid self.

    I'd like to echo other comments and thank staff and volunteers and especially the Gala planning group for a wonderful Steam Gala. Long may they continue.
     
  7. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Part of the furniture

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    Unsung performer a lot of the time!
     
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  8. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Part of the furniture

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    I had a really enjoyable day in the sunshine on Friday, the breakfast was fantastic on the QB, great noise off 2999, 9351 and 7828 throughout the day, and the Goods train looked great with all the newly painted vehicles, @SebWelsh you should be proud!

    Although I only did one day myself, I think the pricing of 2/3/4 day rover ticket for this event was very good value. Some railways either don't offer multiple days or very little discount. 2 days for example, was just twice the price of a normal operating day rover, and even less than a normal operating day for 3 or 4 days. (For reference, in advance it was £38 for one, £60 for two, £80 for three and £98 for four).

    I think the timetable worked well, trains were no more than about 10mins late which is more than reasonable, but to my surprise the Saint arrived at Minehead a minute early at 1429 despite being late from where I got on at Stogumber, never had that a gala before!

    Thanks to all volunteers and staff involved! All a credit to the railway.
     
  9. RASDV

    RASDV Member

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    I really enjoyed my long weekend in Somerset for this gala - my first at the WSR since 2018 and only my second gala on the line. What a wonderful railway! Thanks to everyone involved in putting it on. I was especially pleased to see 'Lady of Legend' as I had only seen her on display at Didcot before. Very impressive and very loud! I think the highlight was definitely the double headed Manors, which feature in the first clip in my video and were too loud for my microphone!

    The timetable worked well (though ran late on Saturday from the first train out of BL), it was still great fun. Not sure what the issue was there. I also enjoyed seeing the turntable in action and getting down to Norton Fitzwarren for the first time and seeing 'Erlestoke Manor' turn on the triangle.

    The engines generally looked very smart, especially 'Erlestoke' fresh from overhaul, she was positively sparkling! Although I thought 'Lady of Legend' was looking a little faded considering it was only completed in 2019? It was great to see Taw Valley in its new livery as well.

    My video - which took a while to put together as I had so much to choose from from the four days! - is here if you're interested:


    Feedback and comments on the video welcome!
     
  10. The Italian Tank

    The Italian Tank New Member

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    I gather there's a health and safety issue at Minehead these days preventing the tops of the locomotives from being cleaned... certainly in the photos I've seen, the chimney caps and safety valve bonnets are crying out for a polish.
     
  11. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

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    Working at height is currently a focus of ORR attention nationally following a number of incidents on several heritage railways. The WSR (and others) are developing measures to address and deal with the risks from working at height.
    As a result it is currently more difficult to maintain daily cleanliness until the necessary changes have been put in place to achieve 2023 standards.

    (There is no point in posting replies harking back to what used to happen, the reality is that this is a current national problem which if ignored could result in heavy fines or the closure of a heritage railway.)
     
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  12. Gladiator 5076

    Gladiator 5076 Resident of Nat Pres

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    And I assume why things like these two are now appearing in shed areas, and there will be more to come I suspect in the future. IMG_0108.jpg
     
  13. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Part of the furniture

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    Photo I took Friday, seemingly to prevent people from falling.
     

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  14. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Part of the furniture

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    It is out this upcoming bank holiday weekend, all 3 days on the BL diagram (WSR facebook posted it on Tuesday).
     
  15. free2grice

    free2grice Part of the furniture Friend

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    Good news if Lady of Legend is running over the coming BH weekend. I'll be there. [BJ]
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2023
  16. RASDV

    RASDV Member

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    Thanks for the replies! That makes a lot of sense - I always thought the cleaners looked quite precarious perched on top of the locomotives!
     
  17. RASDV

    RASDV Member

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    Also - not a criticism, but two double headers I would have enjoyed:
    1. Getting 'Erlestoke Manor and 'Taw Valley' together
    2. 5199 and 9351 double heading as representing variations on the same theme!

    But I appreciate you can't have everything!

    And a question about lamp codes - I was slightly surprised that all passenger trains carried the 'express' lamp code, even the local shuttles to/from Wiliton. Is this normal practice on the WSR?
     
  18. 1472

    1472 Well-Known Member

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    As part of the review of working at height all WSR headlamp codes are now at buffer beam level. This avoids such awkward tasks as putting class B lamps on the bunker of a 51xx as anybody who has tried that will know. Some other lines are adopting this approach.
     
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  19. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Part of the furniture

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    Yet headboards are okay? Seems a bit daft to me.
     
  20. JBTEvans

    JBTEvans Part of the furniture

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    You have to remember that 34027 and 9466 weren't meant to appear at the event, and that 4953 & 7822 originally were. I would assume that there wasn't time to re-write the roster.

    I remember at the 2007 event 4247 was a replacement for 92203 so 34007+4247 double headed.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2023
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