Great Central Winter Steam Gala 22nd-25th January 2026

9F 92134 has been confirmed as the first visiting loco for the event.

Fingers crossed I'll be able to attend this event.

 

Any ideas when a timetable will be published please

Thanks Neil

 

I wish the GCR would hurry up with details regarding the Winter Gala, they say more visiting locos are expected, but would be nice if they could hurry up and announce them, so a timetable can be published, as i have to fit this gala in with the ELR open house gala which has had all details available for some time

 

Suppose to be 78022 suggested on rail uk forum in kwvr discussion

 

Not any more due to WY police costs I’m informed .

 

Some time …as in timetable etc released yesterday .
Perhaps they might be trying to source replacement visitor (s) for the two planned that now aren’t due to being broken and too expensive to move ?
A lot of companies just coming back from a two week closedown …would you want to book a visitor without knowing how much moving it is going to cost ?

 

Yes thats a joke been doing it for years seems like its going to be a problem again not good

 

Announcement on socials later this week

 

Not so!
the bookings and timings for the works tours have been available to book for nearly 2 weeks, I booked mine on Christmas Eve!!
It was just the Bury to Ramsbottom times released yesterday

 

Having known for a few days what the two additional guests are (as of that point) it must be stressed that one of the hoped for visitors had failed before Christmas. Tried for a like for like replacement which was unavailable. The somewhat last minute nature of announcement of the final line up is due to finding replacements.

A little patience for a few days and wait for the railway to release something official

 

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit
Just for your info i am 69 years old, disabled and dont drive, travelling by rail so i like plenty of time to prepare itinerary

 

Actually it wasn't sarcasm just plain unpleasantness.
Best of luck with your rail travel. My last experience involved being stuck on the up platform at Loughborough MML station for two hours plus because of successive cancellations in the service. I got hyperthermia and I haven't travelled by rail to the GCR since.
I'm hoping to be there but it does depend on the weather a lot

 

Lets also not beat around the bush either in terms of timings. All GCR Winter Steam Gala/Autumn Steam Gala timetables always start and finish around the same time.

WSG and ASG 2025:

Fri and Sat 09:00 off Loughborough (A) and DMU off Leicester
Sun 9:00 off Loughborough (DMU) +45 mins later off Leicester

Last trains
WSG 2025
17:35 off Loughborough (Fri and Sat), 18:30 (Fri) 16:45 (Sun) +45 mins later off Leicester

ASG 2025
17:35 off Loughborough (Fri and Sat), 18:30 (Fri) 18:15 (Sat), 16:45 (Sun) + 45 mins later off Leicester

It never differs much from that

 

It's a very valid ask, but I find that the response I get to questions depends on how I ask them. When the kids were small, a stock phrase was "I want doesn't get".

 

Bit ott? Far be it from me to get involved in somebody else's argument when I've no horse in the race, but from an outsider's point of view what we see is somebody with a moderator badge next to their name belittling a disabled man for asking if there's more info on an upcoming event, albeit not with the best choice of wording. Others seem to have managed to explain "first choice guests no longer available for various reasons, they're working on replacements, give them a chance" (which was all news to me too) easily enough!

 

I’d be happy to give an insight in to how challenging it is, and indeed is becoming more so every year.

Fleet Size - Post Covid railways not only have less cash, but smaller fleets as they tailor their services to what they need to run. Look at the SVR as a prime example, with just 6 or 7 engines in traffic, not 11/12. This of course means much smaller fleets to pick from, many engines that have done the gala circuit many times over, etc.

Gala Timing - An often unconsidered issue is when the gala is held. We at the SVR can struggle with our galas because they are still in the main season, particularly the Spring one being so near to Easter. Railways are often using their maximum steam allocations, and mainline tours are really on the go. With the GCR Winter G it’s the opposite. It’s smack bang in winter maintainence time. A lot of engines out of service for their annual exams, maintenance, etc.

Budgets - The cost of lorry moves, police escorts, steaming fees goes up and up. But if the ticket prices were to match nobody would come! So the budgets have to be balanced to ensure the cost doesn’t have to be astronomical to either railway or passenger. This severely limits what can come and often deals/reciprocal agreements must be achieved.

Red Pen Jobs - Finding new stuff, things that haven’t visited, things that haven’t been done is becoming more and more difficult. People are more likely to turn up for something new, something exciting.

Commitment - Getting visiting locos to commit, getting other railways to commit, with lots of time to spare is becoming more and more difficult to do. The market and its needs changes so fast, and often committing to engines going on hire can be difficult until much closer to the time. At the SVR we’ve gone from an average of announcing our first gala visitors 150 days before the start of the event to nearer 100 days. For Spring we are inside that 100 mark.

Theres many many more factors. But galas are becoming harder and harder to put on and deliver. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to deliver them as good as we can, and get the info out as quick as we can, but it does mean we have to ask the passengers to be more patient.

 

Fingers crossed for CR828.... That would be worth a visit for!