MID-NORFOLK RAILWAY PRESERVATION TRUST
The Wymondham-Dereham-North Elmham-County School Line

Mid- Norfolk Railway’s FIRST EVER

Steam Gala a HUGE Success!

Over the weekend of Saturday, July 16th & 17th, the Mid-Norfolk Railway ran it’s first ever Steam Gala event, with three working steam locomotives on site. Building on the successful running of 6023 “King Edward II”, the Steam Gala saw a near hourly service running in each direction for both Saturday & Sunday, with Pannier tank 9466 and LMS Jinty 47406 working hard in support.

The introduction of the Passing Loop at Thuxton Station, in September 2010, has given the MNR an ability to double the frequency of its services and halve the time between them. This is the first time that the Passing Loop has been used for a Steam event.

The MNR’s Steam Gala commenced on the evening of Friday 15th with an additional Fish & Chip Special hauled by 6023 “King Edward II”. This was added in, after the Saturday night double headed Fish & Chip train, sold out 3 months in advance.

Despite the bad weather on the Saturday, passenger numbers were high both days of the gala and the popularity of the BeavertailTM Observation car was high throughout.

All the locos performed well throughout the weekend, and we are grateful to the Didcot Railway Centre’s Volunteers and the Owners of LMS Jinty 47406 for coming along and helping make it such a successful event.

Everyone at the Mid-Norfolk Railway is rightly proud of the achievements made in running this event, and we have had much positive feedback from visitors over the weekend. Planning for the 2012 Season is well underway, and it is hoped to have another Steam Gala event in the summer of 2012.

THE NITTY GRITTY BIT
Who would ever imagine a day in July when the rain poured incessantly and a gale blew? That’s what the Saturday of the MNR’s first ever steam gala resembled! What a contrast to the preceding Friday, when the happy band of MNR Steam Crew aided by Ian Elvar from Didcot and John Antell posed for the 3 loco photo.

MNR was pleasantly surprised by a number of things………!
* Running a Gala with 3Steam Locos was nigh flawless.
* Our passenger numbers were about equal each day, despite the bad weather.
* 47406 returned with a half tank of water each round trip.
* The popularity of the BeavertailTM Observation Car.
* The demo P.Way train behind 47406, on our Dereham run around and northern
section kept people interested between Wymondham bound train movements.
* The e-accolades rolling in for days afterwards.

At Thuxton Station the passing loop thrived, whilst our signal box brickwork team
soldiered on completing the upper walls.

At Wymondham Abbey Station, the run around was developing in to a very slick procedure. Things were far from dull on the platform and nearby. Here MNR staff turned out to help clear the tree limb, which came down over the roadway on the River Tiffey Bridge nearby and which thankfully did not maim anyone.

Further details of the MNR may be found on our website www.mnr.org.uk.


Elm Villa, British Bike Specialists