Great Central Railway 'Steam Railway' Gala, 'Go East!' 091010 Part 1 of 3

Without a doubt, the best Gala I have been to this year. The Great Central Railway's annual 'Steam Railway' Gala, sponsored by the magazine of that name, was this year based around the theme 'Go East', a title which I should thought should have been 'Go North', as 7 out of the 8 locomotives in action had ties with Scotland. The visiting D49 and K4 had both spent their entire working lives north of the Border, 71000 ran service trains into Glasgow on a regular basis, the Black 5s and Standard 2s were both used extensively across the country, and at the grouping of the LNER in 1923, a handful of O4s and N2s were sent to Scotland to replace many old North British Railway locomotives. The railway fielded 9 locomotives across the weekend, 5 of which were guests. The final line-up was:
|LNER D49 'Shire' 4-4-0 246 'Morayshire' (visiting from the Bo'ness and Kinneil railway)
|LNER K4 2-6-0 61994 'The Great Marquess' (courtesy of John Cameron)
|BR Unique 8P 4-6-2 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' (visiting from the East Lancashire Railway)
|BR (NER designed) J72 0-6-0 69023 'Joem' (visiting from the NRM Shildon)
|LMS 5MT 'Black 5' 4-6-0 45305 'Alderman A.E. Draper' (minus nameplates, recently restored from overhaul, with blue smokebox numberplate)
|BR 2MT 2-6-0 78019 (as scrapped Scottish classmate 78054, with blue smokebox numberplate)
|GCR 8K/LNER O4 'Tiny' 2-8-0 63601
|GNR N2 'Teddy Bear' 0-6-2T 1744 (failed on Saturday afternoon)
|GWR 49xx 'Hall' 4-6-0 4953 'Pitchford Hall' (Sunday only, replaced failed 1744)
It was a fantastic event with a brilliant line-up, for me, a huge fan of LNER locos and 3-cylinder machines, it was nice to see some emphasis on the best of the Big 4 companies after this year's hullabaloo about GWR175. The event was only marred by the late-running of most trains by about 20 minutes, the absence of the sun all day, and the failure of the N2 on Saturday afternoon which resulted in its last train being hauled by the Black 5. This was my third GCR Steam Railway Gala, and for the first time I stayed for part of the twilight steam show, including the twilight TPO, this year hauled by 71000. Although, due to late running, it was dark by then and I didn't get a spectacular look at it or video, the sound was fantastic, as befits a 3-cylinder express locomotive. I met up with Jules46443 and 34027, and also saw RailwayFanatic92220 and met Thelnerrules throughout the course of the day. The Plan I did was:
|0930 Loughborough -- Quorn and Woodhouse (71000)
|1029 Quorn and Woodhouse -- Rothley (45305)
|1210 Rothley -- Quorn and Woodhouse (71000)
|1309 Quorn and Woodhouse -- Rothley (69023)
|1335 Rothley -- Quorn and Woodhouse (1744)
|1459 Quorn and Woodhouse -- Rothley (246)
|1538 Rothley -- Quorn and Woodhouse (61994)
|1648 Quorn and Woodhouse -- Loughborough (45305)
|1710 Loughborough -- Quorn and Woodhouse (45305)
|1907 Quorn and Woodhouse -- Loughborough (246)
Highlights in this part include 63601 and 246 on the TPO at Quorn, and 61994, 69023, 71000 and 63601 at Rothley
I would like to thank the GCR for putting on this fantastic event, Jules46443, 34027, RailwayFanatic92220 and Thelnerrules for the varying degrees of company throughout the day, and you for taking your time to watch this video

[@RailwayFanatic92220]

Nice. In the end I didn't go to Rothley as I spent too long at Kinchley Lane today and I heard that the Police came and kicked them off the embankment on Friday. It's my biggest regret of the weekend! Ahh well! Nice footage though, I hope to upload mine tonight after last nights attempt failed.

[@littlegiant18794]

@thelnerrules Thanks mate, was good to see you too

[@grantham8]

Nice idea to travel on the train to move location --That banking at Rothley is excellent viewpoint --maybe time GCR put in a fence along the top and then made it an official public area---guess that the police were too busy on Saturday in Leicester--wasn't there a march on? Do you see the photographer sat down between the lines just outside the station ---surprised he wasnt moved by station staff .
Now for parts 2 and 3

[@littlegiant18794]

@RailwayFanatic92220 Right, shame about that, fortunately they didn't come along while I was there! And thanks, I look forward to yours