Autumn Steam Gala

From SVR Wiki
Revision as of 16:05, 16 September 2019 by Robin (talk | contribs) (add 'steam' where necessary)
Jump to: navigation, search
2017 Autumn Steam Gala guest GERGreat Eastern Railway 564 at Arley
For many enthusiasts, the Autumn Steam Gala is the highlight of the SVRSevern Valley Railway year involving operating around the clock for the whole weekend and having the presence of visiting locomotives. The first Autumn Steam Galas were referred to as "Enthusiasts' Days" or "Enthusiasts' Weekends"; these normally featured home locomotives only. In the 1980s, visiting locomotives began to appear and have done so for each year the Gala has run since 1990.

The event has also extended in duration and now typically incorporates a 'Preview day' on the preceding Thursday to the standard timetable but with visiting locomotives, and three days of Gala from Friday to Sunday inclusive with overnight running on the Friday and Saturday nights. One popular operation is the running of a "Breakfast train" using the Severn Valley Venturer stock. Other common features include demonstration freight trains and shorter local, part-line services.

Visiting locomotives are also often utilised in the days after the gala for private photographic charters.

Notable events

  • 1975 First Enthusiasts Day, with 11 locomotives in steam.[1]
  • 1976 First Enthusiasts Weekend.
  • 1984 First guest locomotive at an Autumn Steam Gala (5051 "Drysllwyn Castle")
  • 1989 The "Autumn Steam Spectacular" was the last Autumn Steam Gala featuring home locomotives only.[2]
  • 1993 First overnight running took place.
  • 1998 First three day gala.
  • 2000 The Autumn Steam Gala was cancelled due to the boiler crisis.
  • 2007 The Autumn Steam Gala took place despite the storm damage which closed the line north of Bewdley. The Gala included services running on the main line to Birmingham Snow Hill as well as between Kidderminster and Bewdley, the only unaffected section of the SVRSevern Valley Railway.
  • 2016 The Autumn Steam Gala was replaced by the 'Pacific Power' event featuring visiting locomotives LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway GresleySir Nigel Gresley, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London & North Eastern Railway 1923-1941 A3 PacificLocomotive with a 4-6-2 wheel configuration No. 60103 'Flying Scotsman' and LNERLondon & North Eastern Railway Peppercorn A1 PacificLocomotive with a 4-6-2 wheel configuration No. 60163 'Tornado'.

2019 Autumn Steam Gala

Full details of the 2019 Autumn Steam Gala can be found on the SVR Web site. The Gala, which runs from 19-22 September, features three first-time visiting locomotives:

30541: SRSouthern Railway MaunsellRichard Maunsell, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1913-1923, and of the Southern Railway 1923-1937. Q class 0-6-0. With thanks to The MaunsellRichard Maunsell, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway from 1913-1923, and of the Southern Railway 1923-1937. Locomotive Society & Bluebell Railway.
34092 City of Wells: SRSouthern Railway BulleidOliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway 1937-1948 West Country class PacificLocomotive with a 4-6-2 wheel configuration. With thanks to East Lancashire Light Railway Co Ltd.
76017: BRBritish Rail or British Railways RiddlesRobert Arthur "Robin" Riddles, Member of the Railway Executive for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering responsible for the design of the British Rail Standard Class locomotives Standard 4MTThe British Railways system of classifying steam locomotives by power using a number from 0, least powerful, to 9, most powerful, followed by either F for freight, P for Passenger or MT for Mixed Traffic. class MogulLocomotive with a 2-6-0 wheel configuration. With thanks to Mid Hants Railway Ltd

Passenger numbers

From time-to-time the SVRSevern Valley Railway publishes the number of Gala passengers, according to the method of counting these which has varied over time (for example, since 2010 documents sent to shareholders became valid as a ticket which did not need to be exchanged for travel.)[3] The following is an incomplete record:

Year Number of passengers Reference Notes
2008 7,596 [4]
2009 5,511 [5]
2010 5.775 [5]
2011 6,500 [5]
2012 6,318 [5]
2013 6,030 [5]
2014 5,901 [5]
2015 7,300 [6] Over the Preview day and three days of Gala
2016 n/a Replaced by 'PacificLocomotive with a 4-6-2 wheel configuration Power' event.
2017 5,300 [7]
2018 6,335 [8] Over the Preview day and three days of Gala

See also

References

  1. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 37
  2. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 94
  3. SVR Forum shareholders' Passes thread
  4. SVRSevern Valley Railway(H) published accounts
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 'Autumn Steam Gala 2014', SVR Online thread
  6. 'Autumn Steam Gala 2015', SVR Online forum thread
  7. SVRSevern Valley Railway News 200
  8. Express Points November 2018