East Coast visitor makes for ‘recordbreaking’ diesel gala at Toddington
THE Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway’s July 29-31 diesel gala proved a winner – largely thanks to its special guest.
Class 55 No. 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier became the first Deltic in history to run over the Stratfordupon-Avon to Cheltenham route, and it operated alongside the six home fleet diesels during the event that attracted more than 1500 ticketholders. The gala continued the line’s upward trend in attendance in terms of ticket volume, but also held costs down.
Over the three days, the seven locomotives ran slightly over 1000 miles without any issues, and the daily 45-minute interval timetable ran perfectly to time throughout.
Event organiser Peter Smith said: “It could be a record-breaker in terms of income for the railway at a diesel gala, and that’s so important as we emerge from lockdowns and face rising costs, particularly fuel.
“We have been overwhelmed with positive comments from visitors, ranging from the good value for money (just £27 for an advance purchase) to the fantastic, wellbehaved and friendly atmosphere all through the weekend, and the superb condition of the locomotives.
“The event started on the Thursday evening with a line-up of locomotives in Toddington Yard, which recreated a typical BR ‘big diesel depot’ scene straight from the late 1970s, with Classes 20, 24, 37, 45 and 55 lined up in BR blue, generating a real pre-event buzz on social media.
“Every opportunity was taken between turns during the gala for Class 20 No. 20137 to position itself nose to nose with No. 20228 and preview the sight of two Class 20s which will next year become a regular sight on the railway, hopefully making their debut at the 2023 gala.”
➜ The line subsequently hosted the Deltic Celebration Weekend on August 19-21, with No. 55009 Alycidon appearing to mark the 40th anniversary of Deltic preservation. Find out more by reading Owen Hayward’s special feature on pages 74-79 of this issue.