Hagley Hall will star alongside Minehead mogul at big SVR gala
THE Severn Valley Railway’s September 15-18 autumn steam gala, considered to be one of the highlights of the heritage sector calendar, will see the welcome return of flagship GWR 4-6-0 No. 4930 Hagley Hall after a 36-year absence and £1.4 million overhaul.
The locomotive has a special local connection with the SVR because Hagley Hall (the building) is nearby, and No. 4930 hauled the official reopening train into Kidderminster Town station on July 30, 1984.
An ambitious gala timetable has been drawn up but with some differences to previous years. Due to the current coal situation, a decision has been made to ‘rest’ overnight running as it is essential to conserve coal stocks for the allimportant Christmas trains (see News, page 43).
Guest stars
Visiting guest locomotives are ‘Black Five’ No. 45231 The Sherwood Forester courtesy of Locomotive Services Ltd at Crewe, a regular visitor having hauled main line specials into Bridgnorth.
BR green-liveried mogul No. 9351 from the West Somerset Railway returns for its second visit, its first having been in 2005. No. 9351 was converted from GWR 2-6-2T No. 5193 to a 2-6-0 on the WSR in 2004 but in original condition was shedded at nearby Stourbridge Junction shed.
Hunslet 0-6-0ST No. 1873 Jessie, visiting courtesy of the Pontypool & Blaeanvon Railway, completes the trio of star guests and offers a stark contrast in both size and livery to Hagley Hall, with the tank engine wearing plain black with wasp stripe ends.
Another visitor will be 15in gauge 0-6-0T Anne from the Perrygrove Railway in the Forest of Dean, significant in that it is painted purple and will match No. 70 Elizabeth II (aka Bulleid West Country No. 34053 Taw Valley). Narrow gauge track will be laid at the Engine House in Highley for it to run on.
One disappointment is that LBSCR ‘Terrier’ 0-6-0T No. 70 Poplar will not make it, having bent its connecting rods and which will not be repaired in time (see feature, pages 82-85).
The regular SVR stalwarts will be in attendance alongside the visitors: GWR 3-8-0 No. 2857, Ivatt 2-6-0 No. 43106, WR 0-6-0PT No. 1501, and BR Standard 4MT No. 75069 presently face south, while GWR pannier
No. 7714, No. 4930 and No. 70 Elizabeth II are facing north. No. 45231 is scheduled face north and operate out of Bridgnorth and No. 9351 face south from Bewdley.
Regular performers for many years, Nos. 2857 and 1501 will be making their last gala appearances due to their boiler tickets expiring.
It has not been an easy task to work out the intensive timetable because certain operating constraints were imposed. There is no access from the down yard at Bewdley to the Kidderminster line, no operating water column at Highley, which is essential for the smaller tank locos on locals and freights, no access to Platform 3 at Bewdley, and no facility to cross the Main & Loop lines at Kidderminster. Despite this, a schedule of eight train sets with nine locomotive diagrams over 16 hours has been compiled.
Services include the return of goods trains, this time from Arley yard to Kidderminster. Two local trains will run between Bridgnorth to Hampton Loade and Kidderminster to Highley, and the usual full-line trains utilising the Great Western set, Gresley teaks, Midland rake and the BR Mk.1 red and cream set.
More on offer
Other attractions include No. 43106 shunting goods trains at Highley, Arley and Kidderminster, GWR 2-6-0 No. 7325 on display at Kidderminster with footplate visits, trade stalls at Kidderminster, and Kidderminster Railway Museum Railart.
A vintage bus service between Bridgnorth Station and Eardington Halt will run on the Friday and Saturday.
Services will start at 8am, running up to midnight on the Friday and Saturday. There will be breakfast trains and daily pie and mash trains in LNER carriage No. 7960 and also the regular on-train dining options.
Gala tickets are on sale now, with a daily rover for Friday and Saturday costing £34.20 in advance and £38 on the day, with a £2 reduction for Thursday and Sunday, and multi-day tickets offering significant savings. The details are available online at svr.co.uk