SECOND ‘BR BAN’ CUTS WORTH VALLE
The ripples from West Coast Railways’ Prohibition Notice are spreading to preserved railways too, as the East Lancashire Railway discovered when it was unable to bring in the lastminute star for its ‘Spring Steam Gala’ on March 11-13. Announced and then called off within the space of a week was the appearance of No. 46233 Duchess of Sutherland, whose movement by rail to Bury - in the absence of West Coast - would have to be undertaken by DB Cargo staff. However, with just three days to go, it was announced that it would be unable to attend after all - initially, it was said, because a footplate crew were not available to undertake the turn. ELR Financial Director David Layland explained: “That’s what we were told initially, but it now appears that there was a gauging problem somewhere between Manchester Victoria and Castleton - even though DBC had crews to bring it the other way via Todmorden. “It would have been a great benefit to us, and it would have given the ‘Duchess’ some work, but that’s the way it goes - at least we did well out of Flying Scotsman.” Five engines appeared from the home fleet - ‘West Country’ No. 34092 City of Wells providing the ‘Pacific’ presence, alongside ‘Crab’ No. 13065, ‘Black Five’ No. 44871 and ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No. 80080, as well as Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T No. 32 Gothenburg making rare forays outside the confines of Bury. Two others were withdrawn prior to the event - L&Y ‘A’ 0-6-0 No. 12322 requires a retube, and ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST Sapper sustained a hot axlebox. It was the ELR’s first attempt at a three-day gala and, says David: “The advance bookings were good, and the Friday was almost as busy as Sunday. The figures weren’t especially high, but you’d expect that with the home fleet only. “However, the weather was nice, and from the operating point of view, pretty much everything ran to time.” Already prevented from bringing low-loaders to its main loading point at Ingrow, due to the restriction imposed on a nearby bridge last May, the KWVR is now unable to do so at Haworth either - because of damage to another bridge by the Boxing Day floods (SR450). It had been possible to transport tank locomotives to and from here, but this latest blow meant that LNWR ‘Coal Tank’ No. 1054 was unable to make its planned visit to the Bluebell Railway’s ‘Branch Line Weekend’ on March 18-20 - which was cancelled as a result. The Webb 0-6-2T is also booked to visit the North Yorkshire Moors Railway gala in May. The build-up to the KWVR’s February 26-28 ‘Winter Steam Gala’ was a fraught affair, as both of the planned main line-certified guests were unable to attend. ‘K1’ No. 62005 was still undergoing winter maintenance at Carnforth, while the movement of Ian Riley’s ‘Black Five’ No. 44871 was cancelled at the eleventh hour due to a lack of crew. “On the Wednesday evening we were still 90%
THE GREMLINS really seem to have it in for the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway at the moment - with the Yorkshire line now completely cut off to all road movements of locomotives and stock.