enthusiast event at GCR 20th/21st of november

any idea whats going on at this event?

Im going to the churnet valley gala on saturday and was planning on visiting the GC on the way home on sunday. Saw they have an event on but doesnt show any detail of whats on

 

From a GCR press release -

LAST HURRAH OF THE GALA SEASON!
November steam gala up brings three locomotives together at the GCR
November 20th and 21st 2010
Who says Steam Galas have to be in the season? In November the GCR will stage an event featuring an exciting combination of three locomotives and a goods train.
Enthusiasts will be able to see LNER K4 No. 61994 "The Great Marquess", SR King Arthur class No. 30777 "Sir Lamiel" and LMS 3F No 47406 in action. It will be Sir Lamiel's first passenger trains at the GCR following its planned return to the line in November. The K4 will work a mixed freight train during the day.

Trains will depart to a forty five minute timetable on both days of the event, with
normal fares applying, (£14 adult all day runabout) including discounts for Friends of
the Great Central Main Line (£5 adult all day runabout). There are more event details
on the GCR website www.gcrailway.co.uk

regards
Alistair

 

thats a gala? i know the gc are probably running out of ideas for galas, looking at http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/timetables.aspx shows that every weekend since THE 24TH AND 25TH OF JULY has been billed as an event, admittedly some of those events really pulled out all the stops to put on a massive show, such as 'd9009 will operate a round trip today', but is this really a gala? Admittedly it'll be a novelty to see the jinty actually being used but not a gala! i heard tale that in the early 90s the gc put up on their advertising boards 'duchess and a4 in steam today, lesser railways would call this a gala!', would like to see what the gc would call that day's operations now!

 

Mini gala perhaps? I think this looks good. Normal fares for a 45min service with a goods thrown in - looks fun to me.

 

It's normally a quiet time of the year between Autumn Galas and Santa Specials. So a bit of extra advertising with no locos brought in just for the event shows the railway are making the effort to attract extra people at that time of year with minimal outlay.
Good on them.

Paul

 

Doesn't seem to be a gala to me. A less than intensive timetable and only three engines in steam. People who live locally might be attracted but it won't be worth the travel from Harrow. The Bluebell, which is a lot closer, usually have three engines in steam on Sundays and call it a normal operating day!

Regards

 

Some railways operate normal service days with more than three steam locos, SVR, WSR & NYMR spring to mind for some reason I may be right about that, so by gcr standards some lines run galas every day then? Will Heritage Railway be endlessly plugging this 'gala' as well?

 

Does it really matter whether it's marketed as a gala? The service level and traction lineup is clearly advertised, so hopefully folk will decide whether to visit or not based on that rather than the name. In any case, for me the intensity of the service is more significant than the number of locos in steam - I understand from the press release (without looking at timetables, so I stand to be corrected...) that we're running a 45-minute interval passenger service to Leicester, with freight workings running between as far as Rothley - that's certainly a level of service that'd resemble a gala on some lines!

As a final point, we normally run a (broadly hourly, plus DALEX) weekend service with two steam locos, a diesel loco and a DMU - so four diagrams. Some railways will naturally need more than that to run an hourly service, but that's down to the length of the line.

 

The WSR may use more than three locos on a normal service day but even on a gala day the railway only runs one train per hour in each direction.
I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the GCR last Sunday for the railway's mini Eastern Gala. It included The Great Marquess, Morayshire and D9009 Alycidon. I was very impressed. The double track section is fantastic. I hope the local enthusiasts appreciate how lucky they are. <BJ>

 

Yes the Sunday at the CGR was very good especially the chance to see "Morayshire" in steam again the Great Central is indeed great. Just wait and see when we get further up the line .It will happen.