Watercress Line Spring Steam Gala: 25th - 27th April 2025

Visitors:
563 From Swanage.

Home Fleet:
506.
35005 'Can Pac'.
41312.

https://watercressline.co.uk/special-days/spring-steam-gala/

 

Despite having its own page the timetable page shows no trains for those 3 days!

 

Great visitor! Very excited for that

 

Wow. I didn’t think Swanage would be letting 563 out so soon.

 

Wow with 35005 and now 563 running at the gala is there going to be any more visiting locos.

 

The website doesn't explicitly mention that 563 will be running, but includes 2 photos of it.

 

Where it may not explicitly mention 563. They had no other reason to have photos of it on their Spring Steam Gala page. What they inadvertently done was update the page before it was publically announced.

 

Yes it seems someone was being cheeky and checking the page on the website before it was actually on the 'events' page! (I have done something similar in the past I must admit)

This is likely a similar reason why it's blank on the timetable calender so people can't find the page yet.

 

Well to be fair if one still retains the original link address on their browser or even be able to search on Google 'Watercress Line Spring Steam Gala' then they can find it anyway.

 

Yes, they tend to use the same page and just remove links on the website so it is still accessible by other means.

 

T3 is a definite as confirmed on the webpage now updated including booking tickets. Only 41312 and 506 listed as home fleet locos at the moment.

 

Maybe they want to keep 35005's launch separate from the gala seeing as the events are very close together.

 

Would be great to see Douglas make a triumphant return.

 

Is that a hint?

 

Merely a personal desire

 

Will 34072 still be around, couldn’t remember how long it was staying at the Mid Hants.

 

No returns to Swanage at the end of March for their gala.

 

Thanks Paul, just stumbled across a Facebook post with it down for the Swanage gala.

 

A bit strange don't you think?
Surely they would want to advertise 35005 at the spring gala, it's taken them a very long time to overhaul it and a steam gala is the ultimate showcase event for it!

 

I'd assume advertising 35005 for the Gala would only serve to take sales away from the 35005 launch event. Rmember people have alraedy commented on here why would someone ay the premium fares for an engine that is going to be used on regular services anyway, the same logic must apply for the gala I guess?