Paignton and Dartmouth Heritage Festival 9-10th May 2009

Yeah I couldn't understand why Nunny couldn't have run with the TE headboard all day rather than only on one trip. Still it is the P&DSR so no real surprises there.

 

Interesting then that in August 1993 six locomotives were in use on the same day with around the same number of crews at present available.......it's all down to the planning. As for the 42+52, this is something that could have been done anytime in the future (now you hyave done it, next time it will not be such a draw). The chance to pair the Manor and the Castle will not be so readily available again so this was a big chance missed perhaps ??? Also the 08 would have been better on the brake van rides would it not ? as this would have at least been different to last year. The event has a good basic structure, its just a shame that more could not have been made of all the available locomotives and rolling stock.

 

Yes I had an enjoyable day at thr P.D.S.R too yesterday. please say thanks to the driver of the 03 shunter in the morning as he stopped the loco, and walked over to the other side of the cab so he wasn't in our photos, then carried on when we had taken them. Never had that done before.

The staff did seem very friendly all day, but do agree that it would have been nice to see the castle and manor out together.

finally a big thank you for taking the nameplates of the two 2-8-0 tanks, a really nice gesture for us enthusiasts. (Even if it did take me till lunchtime to notice!)

 

Yes the driver of the 03 was very obliging and even stopped for long enough to take photos of both engines as they passed, its quite a goos spot for taking pics actually.

Also the TE headboard seemed to be on for the greater part of today and was apparently on for 2 trips yesterday but I only saw it once so must have missed the other trip

 

I am a bit surprised and dissapointed at the nit picking! I think the P&DSR did a great job this weekend. Remember its only the second event like this they have put on since the early 90s. Give them some credit. There were a few things they graciously did for the benefit of those, who may well have just been linesiding for pictures (removing names, TE headboard and reporting numbers) they didn't have to bother. ALL the staff I spoke to (which were several at Churston, and some crews) were very friendly and found time to chat despite the busy schedule. Nice to see the boss flipping burgers!! The crew on 5029 seemed to love the loco! (no surprise really!)
So, thanks to everyone on the line and the 5029 guys for a great couple of days, and for actually listening to us lot on here - It certainly makes me willing to think about and suggest ideas for next time. Lastly, I hope you made it work financially - you deserve it to have.

Cheers
Stu

ps videos up soon.....

 

low res, accelerating off Broadsands Viaduct!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mJ_Fg2b9Ow

5029 climbing the bank (sory, no mic winshield) one of the 5029 lads is shooting a vid from the footplate!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iycckZON-FA

 

Wow! Brilliant 2 days! Nunney Castle is a BEAST!!! Some of the best thrash I've ever had! Going up the banks at Grenway, those on the footplate must have had ringing ears!!! The frieght looked nice as well. The double headers were good, but maybe could have done with a little more weight behind them, as the 2-8-0's were gliding along like a feather! Still it did look very nice! Also Churston was great, and it was nice to see the two Praires out.

Also a great time was had by all on the miniature railway, and I hope if you visited you enjoyed yourself.

The P+D have done a wonderful job on this, the railway operation was interesting and varied, the festival was good, all the staff were helpful and friendly, brilliant! Much better than a weekend on the SDR

 

Much better than a weekend on the SDR? Were you asleep for the nine day gala? Or have you been taking your happy pills again?

 

No I think young Ernest is on the steam coming from his engine as there was a lot of it at various points during the day!! #-o #-o Also he's too used to the SDR and to be fair its more fun beeing a passanger than staff!!

Seriously the event was actually far better than expected and had more than even the website said!!

I thought it also had a few nice touches even if probably slightly accidental, i.e, the sleepers being in the wagon, and the Ballast wagon having ballast in it. =D> Not quite the 23 wagon goods train on the SDR but good all the same, and made a nice change.

As for the ride behind 4277 and 5239 it was a bit poor they were far to quiet so it was obviously a stroll in the park for them, out of curiosity would it be possible to stick the 25 on the back next time, or double the train length. This wouyld then at least make them work a bit. All the same great to see it and a great trip. =D>

I also liked seeing 4555 and 4588 out after all this time it was quite good to see her on the turntable too, although next time could she be changed to face a different direction on the second day, just an idea??

Yes I think most of the staff were enjoying themselves too and it was good to see almost entirely pack trains.

The model railways in the carriage shed were good too, that Kingswear model is great, and also the other one was good lots of varied shunting, they even made it fit in quite nicely with Spitfires and Tanks.

I've also uploaded all of my photos to the usual place on my signature below.

 

looked a great weekend, gutted i missed it as i live over 300 miles away Thanks guys for the pictures june st made me more jealous!!

Good to see 4555 & 4588 they are not used to all this air which they have had over the last two days. Be a pity if they dont work the line again as they were always reliable enginges.

Did anyone see if the evening service had many people on it?

One final point, is there any reason they used this weekend why not use a bank holiday weekend more people on holls and down in the area aswell? not having a dig just a suguestion!

 

Probably because it would conflict with other events as the South Devon Ralway run their Thomas Weekend at the beginning of May and the their Branchline Weekend at the end of May and I'm sure a few of the other lines do things as well.

 

Videos of 5029 Nunney Castle at the PDSR Heritage Festival on 9th May 2009

taken from the train, one coach behind the engine, between Kingswear and Churston:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--kf3N9-0TQ

taken from the train, first window behind the tender, between Paignton and Churston:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-OwWcIbebk

Taken at Churston, Paignton and passing Waterside Holiday Park:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k57K051jG4c

Keith Miller


Have a look at all my videos at:
http://www.youtube.com/hemerdonbank

or some archive photos at:
http://www.keithmiller.fotopic.net/

or a few more recent photos at:
http://www.hemerdonbank.fotopic.net/

 

Well said Stuart, I thoroughly enjoyed my two days on the P&DSR especially the brilliant trips with Nunney Castle up the banks, I stayed with her all day on Saturday, and a big thanks to the Castle boys for keeping her there so we could enjoy her for a couple days, also thanks to all the staff and crews on the P&SDR for a well organised event, of course you can't please everybody, and as I've said on this forum before if you think you can do something better than anyone else get out of your armchair and get involved with a steam railway , believe me you will be too busy to have time to nit pick and find fault with everyone else efforts, and you will get to know what is involved in preservation steam it is hard but enjoyable work.

 

I wasn't nit picking, just making a few judgements from what I saw, I have also said for the PDSR it was a cracking event and I had great fun but all the same there is still room for improvement, as with all things.

To be brutally honest if there was an event at the SDR and one at the PDSR then I would still travel to the SDR without question, but perhaps I have more loyalty there as I have got out of my "armchair" as you put and volunteer on the Pway department on a railway not a million miles away.

All the same we all need to express the good and bad things about the railway, or in fact every railway so that they know where they went wrong. This is probably more true of the PDSR than any other line now they are trying to get the enthusiast market.

 

I don't think they were comenting on your suggestions Kelvin... look up a bit futher at the posts and you'll see what I mean. And yes I wasn't talking about the SDR's 9 day gala when I said that, I meant it was better being on the miniature railway at Churston and travelling at lesiure rather than to a roster for a normal weekend on the SDR. Of course I'd never have swapped the SDR's 40th gala for the P+D one. #-o

 

But as an organiser you do require feedback so as to judge how well an event has succeeded and where for future events improvements can be made. The main one I can see this from this gala is the decision was taken to replace 7827 instead of one of the tanks so that you could double-head the two Tanks. Reason is despite Castle and Manor doubleheading before, it has not happened at P&DSR for a very long time (if ever?) and with the 2 tanks being based there, the pairing of these two could happen any other time.

The key to enthusiast events is providing something different from the everyday norm and the rarer the event the more people will come and visit. You only have to look at 9017's visit to Llangollen. First time she'd been in BR Black and the first time on 'home' soil, and people came from all over the country to see her. Now with regards to the above, what will generate more interest, 5239/4277 operating together or 7827/5029 ? Also which locos generate more interest on their own ? Going from my experiences big namers are more likely to draw visitors than tank engines.

Not trying to rubbish the organisers efforts. I do know what it takes to oraganise an event, and looking at it I hope this event succeeded. But if people don't give feedback how can such events be improved for next time?

 

May I congratulate the P&DSR for a grand day out Saturday. The event was great.

Paignton station's inside is much improved, the shop feels much more spacious - I wanted to spend a bit of time in there, whereas the old one I couldn't wait to get out of, felt as if I was going to hit something over. I feel the ticket office in the middle works well, rather than having two different ones.

It was nice to see a Freight train out - with just the one brakevan too! I thought the order of the wagons were great to photo. I think a few more wagons could of been added, quite a lot were stood in a siding at Kingswear, but I thought it was a decent length and nice to see some wagons carrying a load.

I don't think denaming the locomotive was a good idea. People complain the locomotives look rubbish anyway (personally I prefer to see 4277 and 5239 compared to the boring 'proper GWR liveried' 4247) so why remove the nameplates? By having the nameplates its worth them being in an incorrect livery. People will still say 'that isn't correct' with or without the names. Also 5239 had a big stain where her plate usually is, which isn't very photogenic at all.

It was great to see 5029 storming Goodrington Bank, so nice to watch and listen to. I was disappointed that only the one service had the Torbay Express headboard and reporting number, why couldn't this of been done twice or three times? Also, why wasn't it advertised! I didn't know the 1700 from Paignton was a passenger train either - it wasn't advertised!

I thought having 4588 on the turntable was a great idea aswell as 4555, D7535 and the 08 outside the shed at Paignton. Some nice stuff inside the shed at Churston - great to cab 7827 and I liked the idea of a red light under the firebox - worked well.

The only things I would improve about the event would be these - timetable (exact same as peak with one more service both ways after the last normal train - 1700 from Paignton & 1745 from Kingswear), maybe an extra double header and one more freight train (after the last but one train has arrived at Paignton on Saturday/before the first passenger train to Kingwear Sunday from Paignton-Churston and return).

If it goes ahead next year, can it be the same weekend - no other 'steam galas' in the local area around the 2nd weekend of May.

 

You didn't go to this event so don't judge!

 

Permission to make a suggestion?...

For a future event to attract enthusiasts (I'd be reluctant to use the term 'gala' for the idea that follows) at very little cost, how about a running day with the manor (subject to the usual, obviously) and a nice long train? If this could be advertised a reasonable time in advance, say the manor running T&T with the 25 on 8 - or maybe load 10ish solo if run round loops could take it - giving a hell of a lot of sound, and I'd imagine a hell of a lot of enthusiasts! For many, myself included, a normal summer day would be a good chance to visit the line for a run behind the manor, but with no guarantee that it'll be rostered, it's a hell of a long way to come from the midlands, for someone with little interest in the GWR tanks (or, more precisely, little interest in locos which won't be worked hard!). So if this could happen maybe on a particular Summer Saturday, doing a few round trips as described above with a rover ticket available, I'd imagine this would attract many an enthusiast, with the only extra cost involved being the additional coal required for a heavier train!

 

This is probably down to a number of factors. I would guess the main reason is staff. I bet a lot of the staff want time off on Bank Holiday Weekends and those who do work - double pay!