Debut, return, and farewells at Blaenavon’s biggest gala yet
FIVE engines were in steam for Blaenavon’s Heritage Railway’s biggest steam gala to date, which brought back GWR Pannier Tank No. 7714 to a Welsh colliery setting once again.
Appearing courtesy of the Severn Valley Railway, No. 7714 worked at the Penallta Colliery in the South Wales valleys under ownership of the National Coal Board between 1959 and 1973 and looked quite at home in the BHR coal mine setting over the three days of September 9-11.
The weekend event also served as a welcome and a farewell for other locomotives from its summer fleet. Two further ex-NCB locomotives were in operation with Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST No. 3839 Wimblebury (as NCB No. 7 and visiting from the Foxfield Railway) and Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T No. 1857, the latter hauling its first ever passenger trains in preservation following an extensive restoration. Wimblebury returned to Foxfield shortly after the weekend, having been on loan to BHR over the summer.
No. 1857 was built in 1952 for the NCB and was employed at the firms Gawber Colliery at Barnsley. The colliery was closed in 1987 but the locomotive was saved for preservation by the Coventry Steam Railway Centre.
It remained unrestored, despite moving between several railways in the years that followed, until it was taken to a private site in Somerset during December 2014. Work to No. 1857 to steam included a new rear frame stretcher made, tyres turned at the South Devon Railway, new buffers fitted and replacement horn guides faces.
Completed in December 2021, it underwent testing and running in at the West Somerset Railway before moving to Wales where it has now joined the Blaenavon resident locomotive fleet, from which two Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST locomotives – Nos. 1219 Caledonian Works and 1385 Rosyth No.1 – and 18in 0-6-0ST Hunslet No. 1873 Jessie were also in action. The event was also Jessie’s last gala there; it is set to be withdrawn pending overhaul after Christmas.
An intensive timetable operated that included demonstration freight trains with the mineral wagons on loan from the Great Central Railway and the two GWR saloons each out on trains that ran on both the main operating line and Big Pit branch, and driver-for-a-fiver was offered on No. 1219.
Operations manager Alex Hinshelwood said: “The gala was a great success. With Saturday being the best day, we carried more than 700 passengers over the three days which, for a small railway like ours, is great.
“No. 7714 performed admirably and is a credit to the team at the SVR. We are very grateful to the SVR and the SVR Pannier Tank Fund for loaning us this fabulous engine.
“A big thanks also to the Foxfield Railway for letting Wimblebury come on holiday to us for the summer.
“No. 1857 experienced teething issues but nevertheless operated its first passenger train on the Saturday. It has now been withdrawn for a short time to allow remedial work to be undertaken.
“With the gala over, we now turn our attention to our ever-popular ghost train and Santa specials, before considering next year’s calendar later in the autumn.”