Gwili Railway Autumn Steam Gala 2015

Gwili Railway's Autumn Steam Gala - Saturday 10th October 2015

We are delighted to announce that the Gwili Railway shall be holding their annual Autumn Steam Gala on Saturday 10th October supported again by the UK Heritage Hub, and making their debut at Gwili we are proud to welcome The Asperger's Flyer. This will be the first major steam event utilising the recently completed Carmarthen extension which has doubled the lines length. This is set to be a brilliant day out for everyone, there will be 2 passenger sets in service together with a heritage goods set recreating typical rural scenes from the bygone age. It is planned to run an evening event on the Saturday dedicated to the Asperger's Flyer, which will also be running throughout the day.

Oliver Morgan, of the Asperger's Flyer Educational Society had this to say regarding the event; 'On behalf of the Asperger's Flyer Educational Society, I have been delighted to watch and personally nurture the media partnership between our society and the fantastic team at UKHH over the past 14 months. In that time, the Flyer has grown exponentially and I believe that this is the perfect time to look back, albeit briefly, at the reasons behind that deal. At that point in time, both groups were growing very quickly, something that hasn’t changed to this day, and we were finding increasingly that a partner was needed to work with on event basis and for publicity purposes without constraining our growth which AFES and UKHH suited each other for very well.

Winding forward to today, the first proper chance we've had the time to work together on a large event presented itself, with the Gwili Gala. In September of this year, I was approached by the team organising the event to assess whether or not Flyer involvement would be feasible. Thankfully, we found a perfectly feasible way of incorporating the Flyer. With the ideas about Flyer involvement approved by those on the railway's own board, we awaited final confirmation from the AFES board before continuing who were, with a little explanation from myself, as amenable as ever.

This event is completely unique in railway circles. I will confess, completely, that this event is not Steel Steam & Stars but yet it embodies a spirit of enthusiasm for those brand new adventures and complete change that must have been in abundance on those world famous Welsh lines that pioneered preservation. It is also different in the management approach. The three main groups bringing together the event all have representatives working on planning and, I would like to believe, that AFES bring indispensable knowledge of bringing events such as this to the mass market. These key ingredients, combined with that pinch of courage and intrigue, are why the Flyer gets involved in any event and few bring these aspects to life as well as the UKHH supported, Gwili gala.'

All available steam locos will be in service with one or two surprises lined up. Already confirmed as a visiting locomotive is Andrew Barclay 1219. Courtesy of Ryan Pope and Tom Bailey, the loco is currently nearing the end of an extensive overhaul at the West Somerset's Williton works and is due to be back in steam in the early part of 2015, this will be the first time the locomotive has steamed in preservation so will be a sight not to be missed! The gala team are currently in discussions about trying to find another visitor for the event.

One of the gala organisers, James Rodgers, had this to say regarding the event, “I am delighted to be working with the UKHH again and overjoyed at bringing the Asperger's flyer to the Gwili Railway. Their teams, hand in hand with our Gala team are working together to formulate something very special indeed. I've been following and writing bits for the UKHH for a couple of years and think what they are doing is superb. The Asperger's Flyer is a brilliant charity and to have them attending the gala is a great honour and privilege for ourselves by helping them raise money.”

 

Now in my diary!

John

 

Good to hear! should hopefully have something to announce about the Sunday soon too!

 

Well, thought it was about time I posted an update....
We are very pleased to announce that we've arranged for a vintage bus to operate a shuttle between Carmarthen Mainline station and Bronwydd Arms, the timetable for this shall be released closer to the time but it shall meet trains arriving in the morning and taking back in the afternoon/evening.
Loco line up currently stands as;

• Visiting Andrew Barclay No. 1219 from the WSR
• Welsh Guardsman & Haulwen (both of which are home loco's)
• Upto 2 more visiting engines to be confirmed!

There shall be a beer tent based at Llwyfan Cerrig for the gala selling a selection of beers from Felin Foel, Bewdley Brewery and others.
Details for the evening event are still to be confirmed.

Rover Tickets shall go on sale at the START of August. Prices as follows;
ALL DAY TICKET - Adult: £13.50, Senior: £10.00, Children (3-15) :£5.00, Family:£32.00
EVENING ONLY (1600 until finish) Adult: £7, Senior: £5, Children (3-15): £3, Family: £15

On the Sunday there will be an additional running day bookable in advance with Upto 3 locos in steam, 1 Passenger set and a goods running around as well as Driver for a Tenner.

James

 

Loco Announcement!!!

We are very happy to announce that Ring Haw will be attending the Autumn Steam Gala courtesy of the North Norfolk Railway. The locomotive will be on hire to the railway for the summer season and we are delighted to welcome the news that it has been agreed for her to stay to be extended a little bit longer than planned, to incorporate our Autumn Gala. The gala will be her last day in service before returning to her home base of the North Norfolk Railway. Further details will be available in UK Heritage Hub Issue 53 due for release on the 1stMay.
The gala team are working hard now to try and secure a final locomotive for the event.

Image courtesy of Frank Richards