SVR Spring Steam Gala 16-19 April 2026

Guest locos still to be announced, but the home fleet advertised as including "GWR 4150, returning to steam following restoration".

https://svr.co.uk/specialevents/spring-steam-gala/

 

First guest announced as 71000

 

A news update from the SVR. <BJ>

''2026 marks a remarkable 50 years since our very first Spring Steam Gala, way back in April 1976. To mark the occasion we have a very special visitor attending this years event in the form of unique Class 8P 71000 'Duke of Gloucester'. This will be the first passenger working of the locomotive at a Heritage Railway since the conclusion of it's third major overhaul in 2024.
We hope you will be able to join us for this notable event which runs from Thursday 16 - Sunday 19 April, and enjoy the fabulous sound of The Duke working up the Valley. Our thanks to the Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust for the use of the loco''.

Tickets can be pre-booked at https://svr.co.uk/specialevents/spring-steam-gala/



Photo courtesy of Keith Wilkinson, taken whilst the loco was undergoing testing and running in at the SVR during 2025.

 

I wish the railway well with this gala as with all previous however can't help but feel slightly disappointed by the announcement of 71000.

The visit of 35006 in the autumn was brilliant - it was blended well with the other visitors to give a gala that ticked a lot of boxes. There hadn't been a Merchant to the SVR before and they're such imposing engines - frequently seen on mixed traffic working as well as crack expresses leaving it plausible to be seen on a single track line from time to time.

71000 on the other hand is a mainline engine, built for double (sometimes quadruple) track and belongs there really. It's wasted on the SVR in truth. No different to 60103.

You only have to look at the recent success of the GCR Winter gala - another with a great balance yet thankfully a complete lack of a mainline class 8 Pacific. It didn't need one. It needed a mix of a range of classes, no bigger than a Bulleid Pacific really. 9F on windcutters - every year please! Everything else - leave it on the mainline where it belongs.

Will be brilliant to see 4150 again having seen it languishing for years in a siding at Bewdley.

 

Each to their own I suppose. Personally, I'm looking forward to its's visit. If it brings in the punters and helps boost the SVR finances, that can only be a good thing for the railway.

Over the years I have enjoyed the visits of classic main line locos such as Duchess of Sutherland and Union of South Africa, each time drawing the crowds and positive publicity for the railway.

I wish the SVR well with their gala. <BJ>

 

regarding 71000, you say it should stay on the mainline, yet a lot of people cant afford to travel behind it due to Saphos price range, being at the Gala it gives everyone a chance to ride behind it, and there wont be a diesel on the back!!
I am looking forward to my 2 days at the gala, i had booked before 71000 was announced so its icing on the cake!!
Should help the coffers of both SVR & The Class 8 Steam Locomotive Trust

 

Luckily, and I mean this with a great deal of respect, your views are not widely shared amongst the requests we get to visitors. 71000 was very high up on the priority list from feedback we’ve had from passengers.

I would hope that if everything comes to fruition, 2 of the visitors will be very much up your street if you want engines that will have to work hard and make more of a job of getting up our gradients.

Some points as to why 71000 will land us a whack of cash -
1) The Red Pen factor - It’s first visit to a heritage line for quite some time, and for some of our younger visitors the first time in their lives on a heritage line hauling passengers. So that’s a big tick in the box.

2) The Big Name factor - People love a big namer. The feedback as to what locos people want and it’s full of names like Clan Line, Tornado, Blue Peter, Duke Of Gloucester, British India Line, 257 Sqaudron, Castles/Kings/Halls, etc. The big namers have a huge draw.

3) The non-Railtour factor - For many it is the fact it’s much cheaper, and much more accessible, to get 71000 for haulage and sight on a heritage line than a railtour. Especially in the modern times of economic hardship.

You’re right of course, it wasn’t built to do the work we will give it, but nor were many engines but they all prove popular. I’m certain this gala will be no different.

 

Just to observe that I see no difference between 71000 and other Class 8 passenger locomotives - none of them were built to operate on preserved lines, and all of them are like caged tigers when asked to operate under those conditions.

 

Well said.

Naturally the likes of Duke of Gloucester, Tornado, Sir Nigel Gresley etc look and are suited far better to mainline operations but for a lot of people they cannot afford to ride behind these trips or don't know of when they are operating local to them to see them.

That's why I am very thankful that that alot of these mainline locos do visit heritage lines every so often so that everyone can enjoy them. I for one cannot wait for when Blue Peter eventually goes to a Heritage line Gala.

 

I may be wrong here but I've seen very few photos of MNs working on single track lines. The light pacifics often did - the North Cornwall Line, the Swanage Branch, the Somerset & Dorset and the Bluebell and Cuckoo Lines spring to mind, but apart from 35011 being especially permitted to run through to Templecombe heading one of the final specials over the Somerset & Dorset in 1966, the only single track line which saw MNs on even an occasional basis was the Mid Hants line, when Bournemouth expresses were diverted due to electrification works in the 1960s. (Look to your left; my picture of 35005 could almost have been taken in 1965 rather than 2025).

 

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