STEEL, STEAM & STARS II - Llangollen Rly - 18 to 26 April 09

What a truly amazing event. Very well done to all those involved. =D>
I spent all day travelling up and down the line the first Saturday and then drove back again from Yorkshire to stay until 22.00hrs (next to the last car in dark the field at Carrog) on the second Friday.
So many memories of Locos, stock & people of all kinds.

A few of my pics are to be found here;- http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldsteam/ ... 317361736/

 

Arrived Thursday lunchtime and left at 2pm yesterday, and had a great time both travelling and grabbing some vid (will post later).
A big well done to all the team who organised the gala, and the staff at Llangollen.
For me, loco of the gala was Mayflower, which looked immaculate (and yes, I know it doesnt run that often). The Scot sounded rather off beat yesterday ( developed a bit of a wheeze).
Had an evening run in the Beavertail, and all credit to the guys at GCR who refurbished it. However, it's surely wasted on the GCR, with such great scenery on the Llangollen.
Sincerely hope the Betton guys have generated a handsome return for all their hardwork -- heard some frightening numbers on the cost of bringing all the locos in.
Will there be a SSS III ???

 

I can only echo what has already been said in that it was a great event with so much going on. 9017, 5526 and the auto train were my own personal favourites. I was quite impressed with 9017 pulling out of Llangollen with 5 coaches on a greasy rail without the trace of a slip. Well done to the 6880 folk and I sincerely hope that you have made plenty of cash from the event as you deserve it. The steam railmotor was also an intrguing bit of kit and that will be something special when it's completed. Thanks to all involved with this event.
My photos from the day are on my fotopic site.

Regards,

Paul

 

A big thank you to the 6880 group for organising a brillaint mega gala. I throroughly enjoyed the 4 days I was there, and my camera will get a much needed rest after the hammering it's taken.

Thank you again. \/ =D>

 

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING GUYS...WELL DONE!!

3 DAYS IN THE DEE VALLEY, NOTHING CAN BEAT THAT!!

 

Can only agree with what everyone has said. Had a great night last night in the beer festival, what a great place to have a drink, on the footbridge. Arrived home this afternoon after 4 hour drive in the Landy with what felt like deep vein thrombosis in the old legs!! Early night tonight!
A word to the Nat Pres team- would it not be a good idea to advertise more? say in the mags? I'm saying this as I was surprised over the 3 days how many people I met when the conversation came round to this site, had never heard of it!
Well done to all the 6880 team & all at Llangollen Rlwy.

 

They must all be asleep from their exertions!

Just to say well done guys - We got to one afternoon - but it was very well done!

Good to see apple green in pairs again.

Didn't get a run - or even a shot of the dukedog - but it looked well on its home rails.

The Scot needs repainting and its valves timing - but glinting in the sunset its colour didn't matter on Saturday night.

The observation car should be moved to the Llangollen. It does a job there - and no-one spotted us - or the dogs - even when 6100 was carrying a Nat Pres headboard.

Were you all in the other end?

 

If that was Saturday the 18th we were all in the buffet sampling a bottle of ale or two!

Neil.

 

I can only echo those who have already congratulated the gala,what a super,fantastic event! By far the best i have ever been to,thanks to the 6880 guys for arranging such an awesome event and the Llangollen Railway for allowing it to take place!! The cavalcade was simply stunning,with near perfect conditions,even with an added rainbow!!!


My photos are now up at: http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/c1685148.html


SCROLL DOWN TO BOTTOM FOR YESTERDAYS


Yesterdays start here: http://mark-walker.fotopic.net/p57817565.html

Cheers,
Mark

 

Yes again congrats and huge thanks to all the organisers - am sure one hell of a lot of work was involved behind the scenes! Arrived on last fri and left sun aft - superb event; highlight? difficult one, but the run sat right behind Royal Scot in the beavertail on sat eve stands out, as does the ride on the freight train and sat in a compo on the fri eve on with lights v low and no one else around. Once again thanks to all involved

 

God is not a dj... He's a railway enthusiast......

 

Our vid of the Cavalcade now up at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7hB3iNg ... annel_page


Cheers,
Mark

 

Well i dont know where to start here........Steel Steam and Stars, well the steam and steel i guess were provided by the engines and rolling stock but as far as im concerned the stars were the volunteer staff from the 6880 group and the railway staff who gave time for free to support the event. Especially of course the dream team who worked with me on the front gate marquee ay Llan end, chances are if you came this way in one of us dealt with you. We saw every type of person come through, a lot of younger people which is encouraging for the future, traditional enthusiasts, familys on a day out (thanks to the good weather) We even had men dressed as women, hillbillies, drunks and the nicest bunch of pensioners iv ever met all the way from Wigan. I feel iv properly got to know a good few people off Nat Pres, the likes of Glynn, Ben, Craig and Neil, my hat goes off to all you guys but if you think im going to be serious on here for long that might be too much of an ask hahaha. Heres some piccies of the event,im not doing many engine piccies as you lot have that covered, enjoy.

Glynn on the bar, he never stopped smiling all week. Top bloke.




Me on the Scot



Richard trying to fly.............mmm maybe not, he ran the beer festival all week, it was a great success.





The dream team, Chris, Craig, Spud, and Ben.



Earth calling Ben.............it was a long day............every day.



Happy days on the gate.



Cavalcade from the bridge at Carrog.

 

Those pics make the 3am start worth it!!! 5526 is a beast.

 

On behalf of the 6880 team, many, many thanks for all your support and kind comments.

The weather was brilliant for all 9 nine days of the gala.

Having a rainbow as the backdrop to the cavalcade was so surreal.

Thanks

 

in my opinion this was gala of the year (so far).. I hope it's done the justice for 6880... but in the mean time.. what about SSS3 ??

 

I enjoyed yet another day at the gala, many more brilliant loco combinations and very friendly staff. My Video from Saturday 25th is now uploaded on my YouTube site; the link is shown below;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ADYUjpo ... annel_page

Well done to all involved for organising such a brilliant event and I am hoping that there is another Steel, Steam and Stars event in the future.

 

There will be a Steel Steam & Stars 3, just not yet! We do need a break. It took 2 years to organise this one, we started planning a month after SSS1. WE realise now though that we do need a decent rest this time round.

Also we want to provide something different. In our minds that only means one thing, Corwen. Until that is in place we will not run another SSS. Now hopefully it will be 3 years, but that depends upon everything going as planned. For now though we are just going to enjoy the fruits of our labour looking at all the videos and photographs before getting on with why we have done this, building a Grange.

Everything is looking towards a very succesful gala, with a significant amount raised. However until we have counted it all up and paid our debts we will not know for just how much we raised. Thank you though for those of you that came and made it the success it was. I certainly enjoyed it (or most of it!) as did many of the other 'Betton Boys'. You have all helped bring a Grange closer to reality.

 

I think with the positive feedback from everyone up to now its going to be hard not to do a third Gala. Ultimately this is down to Mr Perfection and 6880 rules and i cant speak for them. For now i think the whole team needs a break from Gala planning and a few months to sort out the finances etc from this one. Im sure more of the Betton Grange lads will be posting on this thread as soon as they have recovered from the last hectic few weeks. Its looking like the event was a great success so thanks to all of you who attended and spent your hard earned cash with us.

 

Oh, i forgot all about this thread before posting my video in another topic, my apologises.

A fantastic gala guys, i enjoyed every moment yesterday especially the Cavalcade! Splendid stuff.

I've uploaded a couple of shots from yesterday including one of the run pasts of the cavalcade, as mentioned before the rain stopped and the sun shone with the added help of a rainbow, a fantastic sight enjoyed by many. The other clips from the day are on the Spring DVD now available.

Also due to the upload limits when uploading in HD these days, i could only fit a couple of shots on the Sunday video, therefore on the DVD trailer there are a number of other shots from yesterday, if you fast forward the video to about 1:25 then a couple more shots are available there.

Sunday's Footage
DVD Trailer (Available at the bottom of the page, the Llangollen extra's are available from 1:25 onwards.)

Look forward to the next gala guys!