South Devon Railway Winter Steam Weekends 15/16th & 22/23rd Feb

30053 arrived and was safely unloaded at Buckfastleigh this morning and is now sat on shed. Works trains have again run over the full line in the last couple of days and all is set for the gala and the start of our 2014 season on Saturday.

 

I've just come back from a great day out on the South Devon Railway. The M7 looked superb in BR black, with the LT livery pannier and the Collett Goods also out. I saw the 09 hauling a freight, which looked very much a 1970s time warp before the branch line pick up goods finally disappeared from the network. Friendly staff, handy train buffet with superb cakes.

Some late running because of signalling and line obstruction problems, but once you accepted that everything was late this was no problem as the timetable was so frequent.

John

 

I've just got back from a weekend in Devon including a visit to the SDR on Saturday. Thoroughly enjoyed the curry on the evening train - oh and 30053 up ftont! I agree about the friendliness of the volunteers.

 

A selection of photos taken on sunny Sunday. 30053 looked great, and I look forward to having a ride behind it next weekend.

http://www.robertajsherwood.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=15406161

 

I went on Saturday and had a great day. Although a bit delayed throughout the day it was nice to see the selection of different workings on the line. Here are a few photos from the day and of the M7:

 

Here's my video from Sunday:​

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Thanks to all involved in the gala, it was great!​

 

some photos i took on saturday 22-2-14 at http://keyhamtrain.weebly.com/

 

Another brilliant SDR gala. They do so much with a short line and I'm always impressed by the ingenuity of the timetabling and the different sets and sights they cook up. Another great choice of visitor too, the M7 looked very at home, and I loved the diesel shunters' appearance on short freights.

I bought two rovers over the course of the event and did a mix of travelling and photographing, ending up leaning towards the latter on the second Saturday as trains were getting full and I didn't want to take up space riding that families could have. Also while the South Devon isn't usually somewhere I'd head to expecting particularly bracing runs, 3205 sounded plenty meaty enough last weekend even on two coaches.

I'm privileged enough to have an even better River Dart view from my flat than you get from the window on an SDR journey, but with the sunrise and the frost on the early morning services over the gala weekends, the ride was even prettier than being at home. Plus there's not a Collett Goods in my living room...

 

A belated thanks to ganger and all the SDR team for 30053 at the recent gala
Loco hire and movement charges make it v difficult to justify an ambitious gala unless well supported
30053 seemed right at Staverton even tho' perhaps it shouldn't!
Again,huge thanks to the many SDR stalwarts for 2 very pleasant days of M7 bashing!
Ray Mason

 

Many thanks to all those who took the time to come and visit the SDR for our Winter Gala. It certainly was great to see the trains up and running again after the landslip, and as others have said the M7 certainly looked right at home. I've heard nothing but praise for the loco - the only downside of its visit was having to send it back (it left Buckfastleigh at 18.45 tonight). Our grateful thanks to both the Swanage Railway and Drummond Locomotives Ltd for allowing us the pleasure of hosting this fine engine.

Alongside the M7 of course our home fleet played a key part, including the first public runs of 3205 in British Railway lined green - a livery that so suits the loco.

We always try to provide something new and an interesting service with plenty of variety and the aim of this event was to recreate the sights and sounds of branchlines from yesteryear, something I think we achieved quite nicely. It makes a nice change to see two and three coach trains running along the line.

The next gala is at Easter, and like last year has the theme "delivering the goods". Again we have a few ideas up our sleeve and should be able to announce more details in due course, including the identity of (hopefully) another visiting loco for everybody to enjoy. The timetable will again provide plenty of variety and in addition to the trains there will be plenty of shunting taking place with station pilots booked to work at both Buckfastleigh and Staverton throughout the gala. More details in due course.

 

Hello All,
A collection of twelve photographs I took when I visited this very enjoyable Gala have now been added to my Rail Traction Photos site.
If you wish to view and, hopefully enjoy them, the link is here;

http://railtractionphotosbyrichards...y-winter-branch-line-gala-sat22ndfeb2014.html