DIESEL DAYS AND GALAS
■ With the announcement by the Government of the possible steps leading up to the easement of the latest lockdown for England, railways have been able to plan their year. Assuming no changes are made, the first railways will start running, albeit with COVID-19 safety restrictions, on April 12. At the time of writing the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland Railways were waiting to hear from their respective leaders on their lockdown-easing plans so they could begin to chart the rest of their year.
■ With the key date of April 12, a month away, there is a very good chance that the SVR’s May 13 – 16 Spring Diesel bash will go ahead as planned. As we reported in last month’s issue, four sets of coaches are planned to be out each day and travellers have to book their set accordingly. Some more details have been announced, and as this column was being compiled the outline looked like this:
Train 1 (Kidderminster start) Class 50s: 50007, 50035 and 50049.
Train 2 (Kidderminster start) Hydraulics: TBA.
Train 3 (Kidderminster start) Sulzers: Class 33 33108 and a visiting loco.
Train 4 (Bridgenorth start), English Electrics: Class 40 40106 Atlantic Conveyor and visiting locos (indications are these could be a pair of Michael Owen’s Class 20s). When at Kidderminster the trains will do a shuttle run to Bewdley and back with Class 17 D8568 (making its debut in blue) and Class 14 D9551.
■ As things start to pick up and confidence returns, the number of planned galas continues to grow and some old staples have returned, such as the East Lancs’ July 1-3 Summer Gala, which is a welcome return for many. With some railways confident enough to look at guest engines as well, it’s a good sign. The latest list of galas is as follows:
June 26/27 - Mid-Hants Railway July 1-3 - East Lancs Railway
July 10-11 - Chasewater Railway August 6-8 - Spa Valley Railway (20188)
September 3-5 - Chinnor & Princes Risborough (31128)
September 3-5 - Great Central Railway
September 17-18 - East Lancs Railway
September 31 – October 3 - Severn Valley Railway
■ As well as the galas’ there will be diesel running days. We’ve previously mentioned the return of the Severn Valley Railway’s Pioneer Days following on from last year’s success, and the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway has announced three running days giving 84 miles each day. April 25 will feature 37215, May 23 will be 45149, while on June 27 it will be the turn of 47376. Each train will do three round trips and all trains must be booked in advance. Boarding is only possible at Toddington, with the first departure at 1000 and a final arrival just after 1700.
■ The Great Central Railway has several diesel running days booked for 2021, plus a diesel gala, with the first one down for May 28, then June 11, July 16, August 20 and October 29. The diesel gala will be September 3-5 and if all comes to plan all COVID-19 restrictions could be lifted by then, so this may be more of a normal gala.
■ Mention should also be made here of the Wensleydale Railway that has announced its traction plans. These, surprisingly, leans rather heavily on diesel, rather than steam for motive power. Initial post-COVID-19 services will rely on the railway’s recently acquired Pacer units and, when it’s back from overhaul, the Class 121 Bubble Car. These provide a low-cost option to restart services and build the passenger numbers back up, especially on low season dates. As passenger numbers start to climb, the railway will look to move to locohauled trains for certain services, initially drawing on the resident diesels (Classes 14, 20, 33 and 37) but open to providing homes for other Type 2 and 3 locos. Larger, Type 4s such as Class 40s and Class 47s would primarily be restricted to enthusiasts' events due to their higher running costs and increased wear and tear on the trackwork. Steam is still in the plan but only to be hiredin during the summer season when costs can be covered. So, hopefully, plenty of diesel running this year when they restart.