City News

MORE than 60 hours of non-stop steam action….passenger trains right through the night at approximately 90 minute intervals…..more than 350 departures and locomotive movements between 8 o’clock this coming Friday morning and 8 o’clock on Sunday night. Yes – the Severn Valley Railway’s amazing Autumn Steam Gala is back – and how!

The intensity of trains at Britain’s busiest steam railway during the three days Friday September 19 – Sunday September 21, is evidenced by a working timetable which runs to 36 A4 pages!

Heading up an impressive list of visiting engines, is Great Western Railway icon No.3440 City of Truro – the first steam locomotive to notch 100mph anywhere in the world – which is on loan from the National Railway Museum.

Alongside City of Truro – and ‘double-heading’ a number of trains with it, is a locomotive which for rarity value, railway enthusiasts rate just as highly – GWR ‘Dukedog’ No.9017, normally based at the Bluebell Railway in Sussex, and making its first appearance on another steam heritage line in 50 years.

‘Double-heading’ is rare on the SVR because of weight restriction on bridges - most notably on Victoria Bridge which crosses the Severn at Arley – but the two GWR veterans,  facing south, will attack the stiff climb from Bewdley to Foley Park Tunnel and Kidderminster twice each day during the gala.

Visitors can also expect to see GWR 'Manor' 4-6-0s Nos. 7802 Bradley Manor and 7812 Erlestoke Manor, both facing north, double-heading in the reverse direction, and there will be a rarely-indulged bout of 'full line' double-heading too when resident 'Small Prairie' tank No.4566 is paired with either of the two visiting auto-fitted 'Small Prairie' tanks, 5526 (from the South Devon Railway) and 5542 (from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway).

'Dukedog' 9017 will also take charge of demonstration goods trains, as will the two 'Manors' and pannier tank 5764. For the first time at an SVR gala, auto trains (in which the locomotive pulls and pushes its coaches alternately) will shuttle between Kidderminster and Bewdley, in the charge of either of the ‘Small Prairie’ tanks Nos. 5526 and 5542.

Completing the 'home fleet' and a full sweep of 11 GWR-origin locomotives, will be 'Prairie' tank 5164, and ex-Port Talbot Railway 0-6-0ST No.813 (working Bridgnorth - Hampton Loade two-coach shuttles), while Ivatt 'Mogul' 46443 will assume the identity of former Cambrian line sister engine 46446, which, like ‘Dukedog’ No. 9017 and 7802 Bradley Manor, was formerly based at Machynlleth, for working trains on the Cambrian line between Shrewsbury, Aberystwyth and Pwllhelli.

With last year's Autumn Steam Gala being a much-reduced event because of the devastating floods which closed the northern section of the line beyond Bewdley, this week’s all-night trains are the first for two years. For early risers on both Saturday and Sunday, departures from both Bridgnorth and Kidderminster will feature a walk-on breakfast facility.

Among other attractions at the event which is expected to attract upwards of 6,000 visiting enthusiasts, the new Engine House Visitor Centre at Highley will host a 42ft long model of Barmouth Bridge, while the 32mm Paddock Railway at Hampton Loade station will celebrate its 21st anniversary of operation, with at least 30 visiting engines expected to be put through their paces over the weekend.