Severn Valley Railway | Autumn Steam Gala - Starring 61306, 2253, 41312 & 401! 16/17 September 2023

#mayflower #vulcan #omaha

For the first time since 2019 we made a vist to the Severn Valley Railway for the Autumn Steam Gala. Having attended every Spring Steam Gala that has happened since 2014 we had in that time only visted once for the Autumn Steam Gala, in part due to my wife's Birthday falling around the same weekend! This year my wife's Birthday fell on the Monday and we made a resonably late decison to visit, booking Saturday night in Kidderminster Travelodge and buying travel tickets for the Saturday.

For 2023 the gala would run Thursday 14th to Sunday 17th September and an ambitious timetable was announced featuring full line, local and goods trains plus the return of full overnight running meaning trains would be running from the Friday morning through to Sunday evening with the Thursday being a preview day. Four visiting engines were announced, B1 no.61306 'Mayflower' from Locomotive Services at Crewe, USATC S160 no.2253 'Omaha' from the Dartmouth Steam Railway, Bagnall no.401 'Vulcan' from the North Tyneside Railway and Ivatt no.41312 from the Mid Hants Railway. They joined home fleet Hall no.4930 'Hagley Hall', Pannier Tank no.7714, WC no.34027 'Taw Valley', Ivatt no.43106 and Std 4 no.75069.

Leaving home just after 7am on Saturday we arrived at Kidderminster just after 9.30am. Taking the 10.15am to Highley we had three hours there filming all the action (of which there was plenty!) and exploring the Engine House. We then headed back to Bewdley for a couple of hours filming before having a final run to Highley and then back to Kidderminster. The ambitious timetable ensured plenty of action but it proved hard to maintain and our 5.36pm arrival back was an hour late. Sunday was spent exploring the line heading north, starting at Northwood Lane Bewdley and then Arley, Hampton Loade and Eardington, leaving around 4.15pm with the timetable an hour down again. The video is in the sequence it was filmed over the weekend. We had a great time, the timetable made for lots of action although it did have the downside of very late running at times. Huge thanks to everyone involved, we will be back in January for the new Winter Steam Gala!

Photos...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alts198...

Locations and Locos...

7714 at Highley 16/09/23.
41312 at Highley 16/09/23.
75069 at Highley 16/09/23.
2253 at Highley 16/09/23.
41312 at Highley 16/09/23.
401 at Highley 16/09/23.
4930 at Highley 16/09/23.
43106 at Highley 16/09/23.
34027 at Bewdley 16/09/23.
43106 at Northwood Lane Bewdley 16/09/23.
61306 at Northwood Lane Bewdley 16/09/23.
2253 at Bewdley 16/09/23.
41312 at Bewdley 16/09/23.
75069 at Northwood Lane Bewdley 17/09/23.
41312 at Arley 17/09/23.
43106 at Arley 17/09/23.
75069 at Arley 17/09/23.
61306 at Arley 17/09/23.
34027 at Arley 17/09/23.
7714 at Victoria Bridge Arley 17/09/23.
7714 at Hampton Loade 17/09/23.
401 at Hampton Loade 17/09/23.
61306 at Hampton Loade 17/09/23.
75069 at Hampton Loade 17/09/23.
7714 at Eardington 17/09/23.
34027 at Eardington 17/09/23.