Keighley & Worth Valley Railway - 'Steam Gala' 09-11/03/2023

Held over the weekend of March 9th-12th, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway would face challenging weather for their annual 'Steam Gala', with snowfall gracing the north-west.

The event ran with a strong LMS influence, very fitting of the fact that 2023 marks the 100th anniversary since the formation of the 'Big Four' railway companies during the grouping of 1923. The KWVR would play host to three visiting locomotives for the event, running alongside members of their home-fleet, to front 9 locomotives in steam over the weekend; of which 5 would be Stanier 4-6-0's. Visiting from Carnforth between its mainline duties would be 45690 "Leander", while Ian Riley's pair of 'Black 5' 5MT's - 44871 & 45407 would complete the visiting trio. The latter adorned by some Scottish embelishments and fitted with a chime whistle.

The Thursday of the event served as something of a prologue to the rest of the weekend, with fewer passenger services and locomotives running while there was more focus on the demonstration freight service, which made return trips Keighley and Damems. For the rest of the weekend, the freight set would only make one full length return trip each morning, powered by different locomotives, with the exception of Friday where it was cancelled altogether due to the poor weather conditions early on. These days featured a much more intense passenger timetable over the line between Keighley and Oxenhope with frequent double-heading, and a shuttle service operating between Keighley and Ingrow West. While the Sunday featured an earlier finish, the timetable for Friday and Saturday would be identical with different locomotive allocations.

In addition to the services operating over the event, the KWVR provided guided shed tours of their locomotive works and facilities at Haworth. At Ingrow West, there would be spoken presentations as well as a demonstration of their steam crane.

Filming took place over the first three days of the event, making it a pleasent challenge to piece together this video. The incliment weather and reduced timetable on Thursday has seen these clips grouped together for the opening section, followed by a mix between the Friday and Saturday demonstrating the different locomotive allocations between the two days.

Locomotives:
Ex-LMS 'Jubilee' Class - 45690 "Leander"
BR Standard Class 4MT - 75078
LNWR Coal Tank Class - 1054
Ex-L&YR Class 25 - 52044
Ex-LMS 'Black 5' Class 5MT - 45407 "The Lancashire Fusilier"
Ex-LMS 'Black 5' Class 5MT - 44871
Ex-LMS 'Jubilee' Class - 45596 "Bahamas"
Ex-LMS 'Black 5' Class 5MT - 45212
TFR O2 Class - 85

BR Standard Class 2MT - 78022 had been due to be in service during the gala, but was withdrawn at the last minute.

All footage filmed on Thursday the 9th, Friday the 10th, and Saturday the 11th of March 2023.