West Somerset Railway - 'SPRING STEAM GALA' 17/03/2012

The West Somerset Railway's 'Spring Steam Gala' held over March 17th/18th and 22nd-25th was originally supposed to have had a 'Royal' theme to mark the Queen's jubilee year. But due to the unavailability of GWR 'King' No.6023 "King Edward II" and an incident at the East Lancashire Railway involving BR No.71000 "Duke of Gloucester", the event just went for a big engines theme instead. With "Duke of Gloucester" damaged in the incident at the ELR, its place in the gala was taken by pioneer BR 'Britannia'-class 4-6-2 No.70000 "Britannia", making a return gala visit following the 2011 Spring event, only this time, the loco was in BR Brunswick Green as it is better remembered. Also visiting were BR 'Standard 4'-class 2-6-4T No.80072 (from the Llangollen Railway) and GWR 1400-class 0-4-2T No.1450 with matching Autocoach No.178 (from the Dean Forest Railway). GWR 6000-class 'King' 4-6-0 No.6024 "King Edward I" worked its last main line excursion from Bristol to Kingswear on Saturday 17th and then arrived to take part in the gala on the 18th. The 'King' will be withdrawn at the end of the gala and be overhauled at Minehead. GWR 4575-class 'Small Prairie' 2-6-2T No.5553 was also making its last gala appearance before withdrawal and was shunting at Washford. The rest of the line-up consisted of newly-overhauled GWR 6959-class 'Modified Hall' 4-6-0 No.6960 "Raveningham Hall" & BR(W) 7800-class 'Manor' 4-6-0 No.7828 "Odney Manor"/"Norton Manor: 40 Commando" as well as SDJR 7F 2-8-0 No.88, GWR 2884-class 2-8-0 No.3850 and WSR 9351-class 2-6-0 No.9351. No.9351 was employed on 'Driver-For-A-Fiver' duties at Minehead on the 18th. This footage is from Saturday 17th March. Locomotives featured are... - BR 'Britannia'-class 4-6-2 No.70000 "Britannia" - BR 'Standard 4'-class 2-6-4T No.80072 - GWR 6959-class 'Modified Hall' 4-6-0 No.6960 "Raveningham Hall" - BR(W) 7800-class 'Manor' 4-6-0 No.7828 "Odney Manor"/"Norton Manor: 40 Commando" - GWR 1400-class 0-4-2T No.1450 & Autocoach No.178 - SDJR 7F-class 2-8-0 No.88 - GWR 2884-class 2-8-0 No.3850 - WSR 9351-class 2-6-0 No.9351 - GWR 4575-class 'Small Prairie' 2-6-2T No.5553