Lancashire & Yorkshire: ELR and KWVR toast gala success
A ‘B1’ in the West Riding and an LMS domination in the Lancashire hills.
TWO GALAS aimed at enthusiasts, at the North West’s premier steam railways, attracted high numbers of visitors simply by portraying their historic regional roots.
The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway kicked off its event calendar on March 3-5 with visiting Thompson ‘B1’ No. 61264, rekindling the type of scene that was once so familiar in the Bradford area. It was the 4-6-0’s first foray to the ‘Worth Valley’ since 2003, having made the 40-mile journey from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. However, it was the attendance of HughesFowler ‘Crab’ No. 13065 that brought the most intrigue. It was hoped that the ‘5MT’ would succeed where classmate No. 2700 failed in the doyen years of preservation, when the National Collection ‘Mogul’ was in such poor shape that it was barely able to haul a meaningful train on the five-mile climb to Oxenhope. This year’s Horwich visitor had no such trouble in negotiating the tricky branch line (see picture, page 80). A third visitor was actually in the form of one of the KWVR’s own items of stock. ‘Black Five’ No. 45212 was brought in on the Friday of the gala, fresh from being fitted with electrical equipment that permits it to run on the main line. The locomotive is currently in the custodianship of Ian Riley, whose Lancashire works completed its overhaul last year. Hopes that one of Mr Riley’s other ‘Fives’, No. 45407, would attend, did not materialise after mechanical problems scuppered its move from Bury. It has since been repaired. Final visitor figures had yet to be calculated as Steam Railway went to press, but the KWVR was pleased with the positive response to the event, after the poor turn-out at last year’s gala. The ‘Crab’ and ‘Black Fives’ were seen again in the Pennines later in the month, when they formed part of the East Lancashire Railway’s Lostock Hall-themed steam event. On March 10-12, they were joined by visiting ‘8F’ No. 48624 from the Great Central Railway, while there was a bonus appearance by Andy Booth’s Lancashire & Yorkshire ‘A’ class, which has been freshly repainted into its BR-era guise as No. 52322. With 3,000 passengers passing through the gates, ELR Financial Director David Layland said that the gala was “40% up in cash terms” on last March’s event - though the latter, coming on the heels of Flying Scotsman’s debut, involved only the home fleet in steam after a visit by Duchess of Sutherland was called off at the last moment due to gauging problems. The ‘Lostock Hall’ theme, with a display in Bury Transport Museum and the launch of a new book by former 10D fireman John Fletcher, “went down very well,” he said, “and a good weekend was had by all.”