Gala successes are the result of untold hours and months of planning that culminate in a few final days of hard graft and fun. Owen Hayward reports in words and pictures on a visit to the Spa Valley Railway’s gala, where, despite being faced with a series of unfortunate events in the days immediately beforehand, volunteers persevered in order to run the event as planned.
The Spa Valley Railway’s three-day Winter Steam Gala on February 9-11 made for a successful start to the railway after a record year for passenger numbers during its 2023 operating season: however, the event came under threat when beset by a sequence of unfortunate events involving its two starring BR Standard locomotives.
Headlining the occasion was BR 2MT 2-6-0 No. 78019, which appeared courtesy of the Great Central Railway and the Loughborough Standard Locomotive Group. Having spent the festive period gracing the nearby Kent & East Sussex Railway, the locomotive had returned to its Leicestershire base during January in order to appear at the GCR’s own successful winter steam gala (as reported last issue) and from there was booked to return south to appear at the Spa Valley’s own event.
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Unfortunately, with only eight days before the gala to get the locomotive to Kent, the original haulier booked to undertake the move experienced an unforeseen issue that suddenly meant it could not carry out the job – which threatened the 2MT’s attendance altogether. Commercial manager Jonnie Pay said: “An urgent call was put in to Reid’s Heavy Haulage, which was very kindly returned out of hours, and it was able to undertake this at short notice. If not, the likelihood of No. 78019 visiting was pretty much non-existent.”
Standard setbacks
With an embargo in effect on the M25 for these large lorries during rush hours, the 2MT departed the GCR in the very early hours of February 8 to head south to the London orbital motorway in time to break there during the morning peak hours, ahead of continuing towards Kent, where it arrived in the early afternoon.
Meanwhile, BR 4MT 2-6-4T No. 80078 was experiencing its own setbacks. Having been partially dismantled for winter piston and valve maintenance, it was also discovered that the right-hand main steam pipe in the smokebox was defective and needed replacing. With no spare to hand, a call was put in to Southern Locomotives Ltd, which agreed to lend that of classmate No. 80104 (currently undergoing overhaul at Tyseley Locomotive Works) in order to allow the locomotive (which was also once under its ownership) to return to service. This was collected from Birmingham and brought down to Kent, and while No. 78019 was being unloaded, volunteers were working to finish reassembling No. 80078.
With both locomotives in one piece by Thursday evening, warming fires could finally be lit to undertake the required tests before they could be released for traffic. With it being such a late hour, there was no chance of this being carried out before the Friday morning services commenced, meaning that Class 73 No. 73140 made a brief appearance on the first services to undertake shunt releases at Eridge that kept Caledonian Railway 812 class No. 828 and BR(S) Battle of Britain Pacific No. 34072 257 Squadron working services while testing of the BR Standards was concluded.
“My thanks must go to everyone who worked so hard and so late to make this happen,” Jonnie said. “In particular, we are exceedingly grateful to the support from SLL in allowing us to borrow one of the main steam pipes from No. 80104 – without that, No. 80078 would not have been able to run as planned. It has been a hugely collaborative effort between so many, which is indictive of the ethos of all our volunteers.”
Scrapped Bulleid reborn
It has become something of a tradition for Spa Valley galas to have a little fun with locomotive identities. At the event held in June 17/18, 2023, Andy Booth’s Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0 tender conversion No. 2890 Douglas adopted the BR guise of SECR C Class No. 31592 to run alongside SECR O1 No. 65, which was visiting from the Bluebell Railway for the weekend (with both Chatham locomotives being preserved on the Sussex line).
The Scottish Steam Up on April 2/3, 2022, saw No. 34053 Sir Keith Park adopt a typically Scottish blue-backed smokebox numberplate and white buffers.
This time round, the opportunity was taken to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Railway Correspondence & Travel Society and Locomotive Club of Great Britain’s jointly arranged ‘Sussex Downsman’ tour of March 22, 1964. One of the locomotives to work this tour was fellow SR BoB No. 34066 Spitfire, which took over the excursion from SR Q1 No. 33027 at Tunbridge Wells West; for the occasion, No. 34072 was renumbered to the identity of its fellow Bulleid locomotive.
No. 34066 was outshopped from Brighton Works as No. 21C166 in September 1947 and was first allocated to Ramsgate. In 1949 it transferred to Stewarts Lane near Battersea, where it remained for 15 years. On December 4, 1957, it was involved in a tragedy at Lewisham St John’s station when it collided with a stationary train, killing 90 people and injuring 173 more.
The incident occurred when the driver failed to observe a yellow signal aspect in foggy conditions, which resulted in the train approaching a red at too great a speed to stop in time. Despite the damage sustained, it was repaired at Eastleigh Works and returned to service, before ultimately meeting the cutter’s torch in January 1967.
Ingrid steals the show
Following its brief appearance on test during the railway’s beer festival on October 22, 2023, privately-owned Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 2315 Lady Ingrid made its formal return to service at this gala after its overhaul was officially completed in the weeks beforehand. This overhaul’s conclusion is a landmark in itself, being the first locomotive to be outshopped by the railway’s volunteers since 2010, when RSH 0-6-0ST No. 62 Ugly was returned to steam.
As the railway’s services have expanded and changed during the ensuing years, No. 2315 is now too small for regular use on the line, with its 0-4-0 wheel arrangement also preventing it from operating on the section running parallel to the Network Rail main line to Eridge.
With this and other circumstances in mind, its owner has decided to offer it for sale. It comes with vacuum braking and steam heat systems, as well as upgraded mechanical lubricators, modified cab, and a brick arch. The original makers’ plates are also included; however, the nameplates will not.
Prospective buyers should contact Tony Attridge by emailing [email protected]
No. 2315 is a former Strathspey Railway resident, and with No. 828 also on an extended holiday in the south, the two former Aviemore shedmates could be seen passing one another throughout the event.
Washing its face
Jonnie advised that the weekend saw 855 people visit to ride the trains, with those booking the Friday and Saturday evening fish and chip services bringing the final total up to 930, which he said was “rather disappointing” but that the event had washed its face in terms of cost. “Reid Freight getting us out of the predicament with the 2MT was extremely appreciated,” he commented. “Behind the scenes we had a team of people working hard shunting things into place, undertaking fitness-to-run exams, and completing repairs. Overall, it was one big team effort to make it all happen.”
The two BR Standards ran together again on the weekend of February 18/19, which enticed 630 passengers, including further dining and murder mystery patrons, before No. 78019 returned to Loughborough.
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