West Somerset

Autumn Steam Gala 4 October 2008

Nobody in their right mind would have gone to the West Somerset Steam Gala on Saturday, given the appalling weather forecast. I duly set off in the early hours of a gloomy Leicester morning, and was greeted in Somerset with overcast, but dry conditions. The rain arrived soon after lunchtime, accompanied by a gusty swirling wind which did for my new GCR brolly!

At Bishop's Lydeard I met up with Clive Hanley and his patient wife Janet, who had been enticed to spend a day at the railway in return for an evening of wining and dining at a posh hotel. Inevitably I soon bumped into a division of Graham's Gang in the shape of Gordon McCulluch, Henry Elliott and the only member of the party without a hat, guest for the weekend, Brian Burrows. I also bumped into the Three Yorkshiremen who crouched grumpily at the lineside like 3 latter day Albert Tatlocks presumably recovering from a night spent in a cardboard box and a breakfast of gravel! I mused whether their lunch boxes contained a few bottles of Chateau de Chasselas.

Unfortunately for the photographers the railway have a new turntable to play with. The working timetable detailed the plan for loco-turning, but this was not included in the Gala programme. This would have made life impossible, but fortunately the lineside network had managed to acquire and not passed on this vital information. Hopefully the WSR, who have been the most helpful of railways in disseminating such vital information, will issue these plans to the punters in future Galas.

For more details of the event ensure you visit the amazing wsr.org website.

Guest pannier tank 9466 leaves Bishop's Lydeard with the 8:40 accompanied by a huge cloud of exhaust. (2.5mB)

Newly restored West Country Pacific 34046 Braunton accompanied guest 'spamcan' 34007 Wadebridge for the whole day. 34007 failed on Thursday with a damaged mud-hole door, but this had been rapidly fixed by the WSR engineers at Minehead in time for Saturday's action. We see the pairing at Watersmeet and later from a sheltered spot at Bicknoller after they had been turned on the new turntable. (3.8mB)

Regrettably SDJR 7F 88 was half an hour later as she ran through Stogumber station to the reverse curves beyond. Curiously a wide hole in the clouds enabled some muted sunshine to fall onto the scene, though, typically this had faded by the time 88 arrived. Paradoxically, despite the sunshine, the wind and rain lashed us from the West, so I decided not to risk the pan and the lens full of rain which would surely have been the result. (1.6mB)

GWR Heavy Freight 2-8-0 3850 caught me by surprise as she came around the curve and some hast adjustments were necessary. Luckily I found a strategically placed tree which kept myself and my equipment dry from the driving rain. (1.5mB)

GWR 0-6-2T 6695 from the Swanage Railway. We had a long wait for this train which eventually turned up 50 minutes late. Would you believe it, inexplicably the wind swirled onto our side of the train for the first time that day. (1.3mB)

Spring Steam Gala 14,15 March 2008

You have to feel for the West Somerset Railway which has been been cursed with the most appalling weather for its two week Gala. I drove home up an M6 awash with spray on Saturday evening feeling grateful for the chance to have filmed in reasonably dry conditions on the two days on which I was there. Many thanks for all the hard work done by the volunteers to produce a smooth running and varied Gala in difficult conditions.I was reminded of the Masters golf tournament coming up at Augusta by the smoothly landscaped cuttings around Stogumber. Very impressive!

I spent both afternoons with Brian Burrows, Graham Briggs and friends - Gordon McCulloch, 'Hooray' Henry Elliott and glamorous celebrity photographer Dee Davison. The conditions were so wet that Dee had to swap her traditional high heels for a stout pair of walking boots and her hairdresser, in high dudgeon, refused to venture out of Stogumber Station. Things became worse when chief manicurist Henry, who was mislaying things at regular intervals, lost his all-important tool - his nail file. At lunchtime Gordon the Gourmet came to the rescue when he was able to mop up a large surplus of sandwiches, chocolate bars and cheesey biscuits; Billy Bunter could not have done a better job. When his hands are not full of food Gordon takes excellent photographs.

For more pictures and news from this splendid event, you should visit the legendary wsr.org website.

Guest locomotive and star of the show Black 5 45110, whose boiler ticket extension expires on 11 August, performed beautifully on both days. First we see her on Friday in the company of Super D 49395 at Castle Hill; appearing to lean towards the camera, the five reminded me of a dog straining at its leash to get to the cat on the other side of the road. The man wearing the smart triangular hat with the mysterious logo is none other than Brian Burrows. Is he a freemason? The second clip on Saturday afternoon shows her running through Turks Castle with the rain now well set in. Many thanks to Henry for introducing me to this superb location among many others around Stogumber. (3.4mB)

Due to the heroic efforts of the South Devon Railway who completed a bottom end overall within 5 months, 5542 was able to appear at the Gala. The small prairie has long been considered one of the most beautiful locomotives in preservation but it is debatable whether the addition of the smokebox number plate helps her appearance. Mercifully this seems to be only temporary. Here we see the loco on the reverse curves just outside Stogumber station on Friday afternoon. (2.5mB)

Once again we had the pleasure of seeing twin heavy freight locos 3850 and 3802 at the WSR. 3850 was filmed at Bye Farm on the climb of Washford Bank just as the rain arrived on Saturday morning and 3802 was filmed near Stogumber during that afternoon. (3.3mB)

5553 and 1450 are seen in tandem rounding the curve at Roebuck Farm. (1.8mB)

GWR Class 5205 heavy freight tank loco number 5224 climbs out of Blue Anchor on Friday lunchtime. This must be an optical illusion as the line in this area is as flat as a pancake. (2.5mB)

Newly restored GWR Tank number 5619 hauls the last goods of the day away from Bishops Lydeard at Watersmeet late on Friday. This was one of four goods runs during the day. (3.0mB)

A Trip behind 7F No. 88

Here we ride with the newly-restored 7F Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway No. 88 from the port of Watchet to Washford station up the demanding Washford Bank. (3.4mB)

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