Llangollen "Croes Newydd" Gala - April 4/5/6

Sometimes an event comes along which can completely exceed your expectations.
I was looking forward to the Llangollen Spring steam gala as I had had such a good time when I went to their Winter warmer event in January and found it to be a really friendly place with plenty of photographic potential along the valleys it follows.

What I didn't realise was the sheer depth of thought and preparation that had been put into the theming of the gala which was a recreation of the times of 84J Croes Newydd shed (Wrexham) which supplied most of the motive power for the line in Western region days. Lots of care and attention had been put into the which guest locos were brought, the formation of and types of trains, even recreating cameos like the loading of a pick up goods with parcels labelled as they were in the fifties and sixties! An excellent written programme was also produced which not only set out the usual gala details but went into a lot of the history of the shed and line, it was almost a little book in its own right!

For me this ticked all the boxes and more, its this attention to detail that helps recreate those timeless images which are usually my most popular images and which I get the most satisfaction from. Yes the weather could have been kinder at times but train after train was presented perfectly and at each station areal effort had been made to keep that timeless feel going, no hi-vis vests unless necessary, great tea and cakes (and I did sample them at each station). Perhaps the best part for me was the railway delivered all this with a smile and it was certainly one of the most pleasant gala atmospheres I have sampled for some time.

I understand that this is a new direction for gala events for the Llangollen and all I can do is congratulate the organiser and team for delivering an exceptional event, and the galas have become a "red pen must do" fixture in the diary; keep delivering timeless moments like these and I will be there every time, other railways could do well to note why this event proved to be so successful.

To reflect the effort the railway went to, I have created two galleries of the event: the first is called 84J https://flic.kr/s/aHsjWu9Ye9, hopefully each image gives a feel of the line in the early sixties and I have perhaps done a little more cloning etc. than I would normally do just to remove those little features the railway could do nothing about like modern road signs and other photographers The second gallery is the rest of the images I captured on those superbly scenic line https://flic.kr/s/aHsjWujWpX , and with the extension all but done to Corwen, it should become a must do line in the premier league of UK heritage railways.

 

My video here Thanks to all involved again, had a great day out Saturday!

 

Sounds great. Alas I missed all of the pick-up goods workings, only saw the Llangollen station pilot propel it through the station.

 

Its taken a week but I've finally got my shots uploaded. I for one had a great time at this gala. Using the trains to get around the only place I didn't get to was, ironically, Llangollan. I just ran out of time.

Looking forward to the next one..

Chris Kempster Photography - Llangollan Spring Gala

 

My video from the Friday.