Avon Valley Railway - End of Season Gala featuring Black 5 No 45379 - 15/10/11

The now annual End of Season Gala at the Avon Valley Railway went up in the world in 2011. The event would feature an intensive timetable with a line up of 5 locos, of which 3 were guests! The most notable would be ex resident Black 5 No 45379, returning to the line for the first time from its current home at the Mid Hants Railway.
The day was blessed with sunshine, however events that occurred would not all be as good as the weather. At around quarter to ten, with trains already running 20-25 minutes late, the set of points adjacent to the level crossing at Bitton station had failed to be changed to the correct position, so when the Black 5 arrived tender first from Oldland Common with the goods to Avon Riverside, it ran straight through, forcing the points across and continuing on down to Avon Riverside. While the loco itself was not damaged, the same could not be said for the points, with the locking mechanism in multiple pieces, and the part of the point to make trains for Oldland run into the main platform slightly bent, trains were unable to operate over the point. This meant that the Black 5, 'Jessie' and the goods train were stuck on the Avon Riverside side of the crossing until repairs had been done. With the timetable put on hold for around 3 hours, the remaining 3 engines, 7151, 'Karel' and 1369, were left to operate a basic passenger service between Bitton and Oldland Common, with locos swapping at Bitton in order to release locos arriving from Oldland. Once suitable repairs were made and the point clamped in position, the timetable could be resumed, with trains running at around an hour behind, plus the cancellation of the local service.
The full loco line up was:-
Guest Locos:-
|LMS Black 5 No 45379 (from the Mid Hants Railway)
|GWR 13XX Class No 1369 (from the South Devon Railway)
|Hunslet 0-6-0ST No1873 'Jessie' (from the Llangollen Railway)
Home Fleet:-
|RSH 0-6-0T No 7151
|Chrzanow Ferrum 0-6-0T No 4015 'Karel'