‘modified halls’ team up at West somerset GWr Gala
Hawksworth 4-6-0s and ‘s160’ bring in the visitors – and the cash – to West somerset Railway.
With rare meetings of Hawksworth locomotives and an ‘S160’-hauled military freight, the West Somerset Railway’s spring gala recalled the GWR of the 1940s. Bringing in ‘Modified Hall’ No. 6990 Witherslack Hall from the Great Central Railway to join resident classmate No. 6960 Raveningham Hall, the WSR double-headed the two 4-6-0s on the Sunday; and for the final Minehead-Bishops Lydeard train that day, No. 6990 was piloted by another engine from the pen of the GWR’s last Chief Mechanical Engineer – ‘94XX’ 0-6-0PT No. 9466. Visiting the WSR for this season is USA Transportation Corps ‘S160’ 2-8-0 No. 6046 – an example of a class that ran on the GWR during 1942-44, and influenced Hawksworth’s modernisation of Swindon design. To recreate the build-up to D-Day, the American engine hauled a demonstration military goods train, complete with Jeep and landing craft. Newly repainted into post-war GWR livery, ‘14XX’ 0-4-2T No. 1450 came from the Severn Valley Railway with autocoach No. 178; another guest from Bridgnorth, ‘57XX’ 0-6-0PT No. 7714, was making its WSR debut. Collett 4-6-0 No. 7822 Foxcote Manor, on loan to the WSR this season, was also in steam, while SDJR ‘7F’ No. 53808 acted as standby. On the Thursday, the ‘S160’ suffered an unusual failure when its left-hand drain cocks parted company with the cylinder – but owner Greg Wilson and its support crew from the Churnet Valley Railway worked through the night to repair it for its booked diagrams on the Friday. With a total of 4,367 passengers, WSR General Manager Paul Conibeare declared it “a great result, especially after we had to cancel services on March 18 because of the snow. “Bearing in mind that we’d spent a lot on locomotive hire, it was almost spot-on to the budget – and we’ve had a lot of good feedback about the military train.” The latter is to be repeated at a ‘40s Weekend’ on September 15/16. ●● An ‘Atlantic Coast Express’ event is planned at the West Somerset Railway next April. ‘Southern ACE to Minehead’ was originally scheduled for September 9-14, but obtaining suitable guest locomotives was described as “challenging”. Up to three Southern locomotives had been in the pipeline, including ‘West Countries’ Nos. 34046 Braunton and 34092 City of Wells.