Eastleigh Lakeside Railway '25th ANNIVERSARY GALA' - July 2017

The Eastleigh Lakeside Steam Railway celebrated its 25th Anniversary over the weekend of 22nd-23rd July 2017. The railway operated an intensive service over the two days utilising pretty much the entire home fleet plus two visitors. It mainly focused on the first five locos to be based at the line with the rest being split with some running Saturday and the newest running on Sunday. The locomotives that appeared are as follows... - ELR 'Maxi-Lucky-Seven'-class 2-4-2 No.7 "Sandy River" (Saturday / Sunday) - ELR 'Atlantic'-class 4-4-2 No.4789 "William Baker" (Saturday / Sunday) - ELR Bo-Bo No.D1994 "Eastleigh" (Saturday / Sunday) - SBCR 'Bullock'-class 4-6-2 No.1001 "The Monarch" (Saturday / Sunday) - ELR 'Northern Rock'-class 2-6-2 No.10 "Sir Arthur Heywood" (Saturday / failed on Sunday and was replaced by "Rob Roy") - 'Romulus'-class 0-4-0 "Sanjo" (Saturday) - University of Southampton Bo-Bo No.3221 Eurostar (Saturday) - Freelance 0-6-0DH No.92 "Florence" (Saturday) - SBCR 'Bullock'-class 4-6-2 No.1002 "The Empress" (Saturday) - ELR 4-8-4 No.3 "Francis Henry Lloyd" (Saturday) - BR 'Britannia'-class 4-6-2 No.70055 "Rob Roy" (Saturday / Sunday - replaced "Sir Arthur Heywood") - SR 'Atlantic'-class 4-4-2 No.1908 "Ernest Henry Upton" (Saturday) - LNER A4-class 4-6-2 No.4498 "Sir Nigel Gresley" (Saturday) - SBCR 'Bullock'-class 4-6-2 No.2006 "Edward VIII" (Sunday) - L&BR 'Manning-Wardle' 2-6-2T No.E761 "Taw" (Saturday) - SR LN-class 'Lord Nelson' 4-6-0 No.E850 "Lord Nelson" (Sunday) - LMSR 'Royal Scot'-class 4-6-0 No.6100 "Royal Scot" (Sunday) - LMSR 'Coronation'-class 4-6-2 No.6220 "Coronation" (Sunday) - MHLR 'Romulus'-class 0-4-0 "Idris" (Sunday) - SR 'Merchant Navy'-class 4-6-2 No.21C1 "Channel Packet" (Sunday) - SR rebuilt 'Merchant Navy'-class 4-6-2 No.35004 "Cunard White Star" (Sunday) - P&D 0-6-0DM Diesel (from driver Phil C - Saturday / Sunday) - MVR 'Tinkerbell'-class 0-4-2T No.3 "Talos" (visiting from the Moors Valley Railway - Saturday / Sunday) At the end of each day, the railway put on something special. On the Saturday, a parallel run with "The Monarch" and "The Empress" whilst on Sunday it was a double-headed double-round trip of the entire line with "Cunard White Star" & "Channel Packet".