Severn Valley Railway winter steam gala January 2024

And more I expect think it looks alien to the locale, to what they recall, and to what they see in books and mags. It's a pity JBTEvans and 5944s light hearted observations have generated so much aggro, but that's social media and the internet today

 

It would be a good idea, too late for the Severn Valley, but Great Central perhaps?

 

43106 accelerates past Orchard Crossing with the LMS stock on this morning's run to Kidderminster.

 

Good day today. A few slight delays but nothing major. The Manor was the highlight for me but 2968 also looked and sounded good. It was busy but the trains didn’t seem as full as they were during the diesel day, perhaps due to being spread over two days or perhaps I just wasn’t on the busy ones? It’ll be interesting to see the numbers anyway.

 

A great day today. Thanks to SVR for putting on a great event! I agree with the above. The Manor was a real standout! Great to see the Stanier Mogul again as well. Like being reunited with an old friend

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Though I'd have been happily going to this as an all-steam event if I was free today, I do like the appearance of 37263 on the revised timetable. Is that a stock positioning move to balance the fact there'd otherwise be a few coaches in the wrong place now the last normal service of the day isn't a longer set due to the S160 not running? Ending the day with a Tractor thrashing away in the dark would've been one of my highlights I reckon - just like a cheeky twilight run with the Pannier northbound on a full length set would've featured in my diesel day moves too.

I also really like the safety wording that's appeared on the revised timetable. Nuanced phrasing that makes clear what's unacceptable and clearly targets the minority taking things too far.

 

37263s appearance in the timetable allows people who have a full line run with 43106 on its last run of its ticket back to Kidderminster and Bewdley. 11 coaches with 4 for passengers and the other 8 an ECS. I understand from eavesdropping on a conversation earlier.

 

I went down to the Severn Valley Railway's winter steam gal on Saturday 6th January
featuring the last appearance's of both 43106 & 21C127 Taw Valley,
https://railway-photography.smugmug...Steam-Gal-Saturday-6th-January-2024/i-BQ3PT8G

Neil

 

Some footage from the gala yesterday, certainly looking forward to seeing more of 2868 in the future!

 

Because 6046 has been so reliable ?
Think WSR and Bluebell ….

 

11 coaches...now I'm very jealous of those who made it there today!

 

Doesn’t 8+4 = 12

 

Even better

 

"One in one out" at Bridgnorth this afternoon.

 

A Bittersweet moment.

 

Agreed. I have asked on another thread if anyone knows what the Ivatt Class 4 Society intend to do with The Flying Pig after the boiler certificate expires, but I am yet to have a reply. The Society don't seem to have a social media presence.

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No idea what’s happening with the Pig’s future, as I’ve said in the past we can’t have all the toys out of the box at the same time, but there’s 4150 and 82045 to come out and play with in the not to distant future.

 

Very busy down at the SVR yesterday. Most trains seemed to be full and standing, and finding space for two of us + dog proved a little challenging at times! If anything, it felt busier than some Spring/Autumn galas, with what felt like similar numbers of people and a reduced frequency of trains. If they are going to run the same event next year, maybe making it 3 days might be worthwhile.

Was good to get a first ever run behind 2968 as well as a last run for a while behind 43106. It's a shame 2253 was unavailable, I personally don't mind seeing something 'different', but I did have a run behind her at the Autumn Gala anyway, so don't feel I missed out.

Timekeeping only strayed off by about 15-20mins at the end of the day, which isn't bad by SVR gala standards, but I do wonder whether timetabled shunting time and dwell time at Highley need to be increased. This always seems to be a sticking point and cause of delays during galas.
It doesn't help that the short platform and lots of visitors to the Engine House mean that it tends to experience significant platform crowding. I'm not sure what you could do about it though without a second platform or at least, a platform extension.

Hopefully the increased passenger load will be a good shot in the arm for the SVR during the normally quiet winter period, and will help the railway's long term financial position.

 

Your photo of 2968 at Highley certainly shows the River Severn in full flood in the background. Hope that hasn't caused too many problems for local inhabitants. I know there has been serious flooding further downstream at Tewkesbury and Gloucester, but they have to contend with the combined flows of the Severn and (Warwickshire) Avon.

 

Sadly it seems that Highley did not escape unscathed!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-67896714

All along the line, it was often hard to see where the river should be, compared to where the water currently was. It is fortunate that the SVR's own infrastructure seemed not to have suffered any major issues.