WSR Spring Steam Gala 1-4 May 2026

Part two, Saturday:

 

Part three, Sunday and half Monday:

 

My video of the gala covering Sunday and Monday.



And a note for the Gala Planning Team: Great idea to recreate some banker duties!

 

My video from a brilliant weekend, many thanks to all involved! We travelled down Saturday, spending time around Watchet, Blue Anchor and Washford in the day, and Minehead station in the evening for the arrival of the three manors and various turning moves. We then took a very enjoyable round trip behind 'Odney Manor' on Sunday on the 10.08 ex Minehead and 13.04 ex Bishops Lydeard before spending the late afternoon around Watchet/Washford. Monday was a journey home via watching the first trains of the day at Blue Anchor/Washford and a cream tea at Stogumber! A fantastic weekend despite getting very wet at times! Video edited in time of day sequence from footage filmed across the three days...

 

A bit later than what I would have liked but my video from four fantastic days at the WSR is available to view if anyone is interested:

 

My planned three days at this gala became one-ish due to a lot of sickness at home, but I'm so glad I managed the visit I did. Said it before, but the ambition of these WSR events under the current team is so impressive. There's so much going on every day, and a mix of (relatively) authentic and brilliantly frivolous that really appeals to me. The variety is amazing, and I can live with the late running as the price you might pay for ambition and the nature of the line - especially because these days (and I didn't always feel this was the case at WSR galas) it does feel like plenty of effort is made to get back on time when things go wrong.

This was the first time I'd seen an A4 working since the Bittern at Mid-Hants days (very elegant and impressive, quieter than I'd hoped but maybe I'm too used to GWR traction), and the impromptu 2996 + 60007 double-header finale was certainly a very different experience that the crews visibly loved. But for entertainment in my eyes it came nowhere near the Victor + Manor double-header earlier in the day. That was stunning up the banks - but Manors are probably my favourite steam class and I've been a fan of the big Bagnalls since the other one was at the DFR a few years ago.

I didn't get chance to post here afterwards but I'd also really, really enjoyed the anniversary gala at the end of March and the Bagnall was such a highlight of that as well.

When the previous set of WSR anniversary celebrations happened a decade ago, I think I'm right in remembering that the guest list was Tornado, an SVR Manor and 2857. I enjoyed that a lot but at the time remember thinking I wish they'd had any of Victor/Vulcan, 3205 or 6412 there so it felt really appropriate to the WSR's preservation history. I think our first ever visit to the line was for Evening Star in 1989. I'd seen loads of pictures of the Bagnalls in magazines and was fascinated by them as a kid and disappointed they'd gone when I finally made it to the WSR, so all the uphill thrash I've had and photos/videos I've now taken of one on the route in the last 6 weeks had been a long time coming!

Looking forward to putting an evening aside to watch all the videos above taken by more talented people than me and enjoy everything I missed on the days I had to pull out of. On that note, please can the triple-headed Manors be repeated while you've got three of them there! That and a passenger run with 1857 were the main things I felt I missed out on by having to drop my Friday and Saturday plans.

Thanks again to all the organisers and crews for all you put into it. Looking forward to the diesel galas, the autumn event, 60007's July running weekend and plenty of normal service day visits for Manors and Cromptons in between.