WSR Spring Gala 2009

Breakfast on the QB being pulled up Washford bank by 6100

Does it get any better than this without 5542 being being there. =D> =D>

 

some photos of today at the gala at http://keyhamtrain.fotopic.net

 

60019 did come off the front of the red things at minehead lc then ran onto the ls line for the red things to pull the train into the station, then did as aldfort say's. mark

 

Thanks for the updates. We wondered what had happened.
The alarm clock has been set for an early start in the morning.
WSR here we come. <BJ>

 

Lovely pictures. I wonder if Jeremy Hosking was in attendance as they ran 2 of his loco's together (34046+60019) on a double header?

 

Enjoyed the trip to the WSR.

This is Bittern on the way out last night, at 2 mins listen to the Chine Whistle after the train has passed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvSaTV_wu8

 

just got home from 4 days spent on the footplate of the king at williton i know i said it last weekend
but what a great gala well done w.s.r.. also many thanks for the great donations and good wishes for the king's recovery
what a great bunch of folks you all are also many thanks to the lads at williton yard for making us so welcome all the best from the 6024
team. =D> \/

 

Yes I totally agree Jane. Thanks to everyone who visited the footplate and for your messages of support throughout the two weekends.

Thanks also to everyone on WSR for a fabulous Gala and for making the 6024 team so welcome as always. Thanks to Andrew for the timetable info!

My 5 pics from today now up on http://fireboxchaser.fotopic.net/c1674019.html

Video up later on.

FC

 

4936 Kinlet Hall at Castle hill today.

 

It's interesting that the chaos caused by the late arrival of the 'two red thingies' hasn't been commented upon. Now I too enjoyed the gala and my thanks go out to all those who put it on ... but ... the chaos on Saturday really ought to cause some review of the arrangements for the gala by the WSR management. And why a diesel hauled charter taking up a valuable slot during during one of the premier steam events of the year?

It was back to normal yesterday and I had an absolutely brilliant time, thanks to all. But I might not have travelled from north-west London had known in advance that a diesel charter had been arranged. Mainline charters arriving during the middle of a gala always cause problems as has been shown in the past. Having them arrive at the start, no problem, but in the middle that's very different.

The problems this caused were the talk of the line on Sat and Sun, and nobody had a good word to say about it.

Please, no charters again.

Regards

 

I'm sorry to say Helix, but of all the days ,Sat was the worst! I'm glad you still enjoyed it though!
I suppose the last Sat is the 'main' day, but everything went a bit wrong with the timetable, starting with a vac problem with the '5' in the morning, & then that charter! I dont think there'll be another one on a gala! And then there was the weather!
But all the rest of the days , esp, yesterday(Sun) made up for it.

 

While the late arrival of the charter did not help Control it was not the only problem that occured on Saturday. Gala weekend timetables are always hectic and sometimes the timetable does slip anyway.
TBH I was at Minehead all day on Saturday and the only time it felt slightly busy was when the charter was in. Saying that it would have been nicer to drop the "red things" off at Norton and Steam Haul the Charter to MH and back without them.
I'm sure a lot of the enthusiasts on the Charter were there as the Gala was an added attraction for them. I think the fact they were able to travel to the Gala by train was a plus point overall. =D>

 

Bloomin' marvellous weekend spent at the gala.
The weather made a big difference, especially on Sunday, after last year's constant downpour. A great effort by all involved. My photos from the weekend are now on my fotopic site.

Cheers,

Paul

 

I'm not at all surprised that Minehead was quiet on Saturday morning and the reason for it was the timetable. All departures excepting one, the 0910 with 88 on front, were tender or bunker first until 1405! It was a similar story of course at Bishops Lydeard. I would have thought that most of the enthusiasts had a lay-in and then caught the trains on film some where in the middle of the line as I did.

In spite of the above, the turntable at Minehead was being used to demonstrate full 360 degree turns!

I'm sorry, really sorry to say this but Saturday wasn't a good day. Thursday and Friday were fine in between the showers, Sunday was utterly splendid, but Saturday wasn't a good day, not at all. The WSR has done a lot better than this, I'm sure it will do better again, but Saturday wasn't a good day.

Regards

 

I went on Friday and thought it was absolutely excellent - and everything ran pretty well to time (I think we were about 10 minutes adrift by the end of the day which isn't bad). I thought it was one of the best galas that the WSR have done but I do agree that one's perception is influenced by the way that things run on any given day. Personally I prefer to take a day off work to attend on the Friday as it's less crowded.

I think the point about the charter is a valid one - this is another reason why I chose not to attend on Saturday. From past experience you can be almost sure that things will be disrupted if a charter is late. Furthermore I have no wish to see the bizarre sight of a steam loco piloting two red thingies and a rake of modern stock!

 

It was an odd sight, for sure. And I quite appreciate how folks view such things. However, for me, it is another example of how the West Somerset Railway, whilst striving to provide the very best in railway heritage, tends to make its own railway heritage too. That's the reason I got hooked on the WSR back in 1976 - the WSR makes history as well as merely replaying history. Each to their own, I guess

Steve
(WSW)

 

Sunday certainly made up for Saturday, in fact it was one of the best days I've had at the WSR. The weather made for some great photos, and the 8 coach sets meant that the trains I travelled on weren't overcrowded with the added bonus that the locos were working hard.
I'd also like to give a bit of praise to those unsung heroes and heroines, the catering staff. They work very hard at gala events and always give a good service, no matter how busy they are. Well done to them.
After the chaos on Saturday, I liked this notice at Watchet........

[attachment=0:2izkqvm2]WSR 29 Mar 09 024s.jpg[/attachment:2izkqvm2]

Pics from the weekend will be on my site soon.

Tim.

 

Actually it was a bit like that on Friday morning too - there was a period with a lot of tender-first running from BL-MD. However this worked well for me as it gave an opportunity to do a round trip and then get off at Crowcombe in the afternoon and phot 4 consectutive trains that were all chimney first. It's kind of swings and roundabouts really.

The fact is that while the turntable has provided some added interest you will never eradicate tender-first running until the triangle at the other end is in use. Even then will there always be the time to turn engines after every run?

 

Clearly there was a desire to keep the turntable busy as a lot of folks were asking about it. I think 6695 got a little dizzy as she got turned 180 then 180 again later. I did hear that a 360 might have been done as well. I'm sure we turned Braunton "properly" at some stage of the day. In all fairness as well it didn't rain too much on Saturday at MH and even the WSR can't control the weather.

Without wishing to cause any offence may I ask why so many enthusiasts don't like to see engines running tender first? It's not as if it never happened back in the day. As for bunker first - well tank engines are intended to be able to run like that on branch lines it's an entirely normal thing to do. In fact one or two seem to go a little better in reverse! :-$

 

Depends on the digramming. It's currently a matter of fact that we only have mechanical coaling at MH (using our digger.)
So you have to run in, unhook, make the move to the loco sidings if you are taking coal (and water) then you'd need to cross the station throat to get over to the bay side to turn on the turntable, then get back and get on to the set ready for the off. It's no better if you run into the bay either if you think about it. Now if you've only got 30 mins to do the whole movement then it's too tight IMHO