West Somerset Railway - Autumn Steam Gala - Thursday 27th September 2018

An unusually late first visit of the year to the West Somerset Railway for their Autumn Steam Gala. Taking place a week earlier than usual, the gala took on the theme of 'Cross Country Train Services' and would see six guest locos in operation alongside the home based fleet, thankfully none of them were a CrossCountry Voyager! 2018 would finally see BR Std 5MT No 73082 'Camelot' visiting from the Bluebell after originally being planned to visit a year earlier. 41312 from the Mid Hants was utilised on shorter services. Bulleid Pacific No 34046 'Braunton' (in its 'Lord Dowding' guise) made an extended visit featuring on service train prior to the gala. Likewise Manors Nos 7820 'Dinmore Manor' and 7822 'Foxcote Manor' were making extended loan visits, having been based on the line over the summer. And finally BR Std Tank No 80072 was a very late replacement for classmate No 80104 when it was no longer available and needed to cover services at Swanage, with 80072 only being loaded onto a lorry at 5pm on the Wednesday evening! Also on long term hire was S160 No 6046, which was also intended to take part in the gala, but following a failure the previous week, the loco sat out the event at Minehead. The weather on Thursday was glorious, wall to wall sunshine, making quite a difference from the torrential downpour at the Severn Valley Gala just one week earlier! The full loco lineup was:- | BR Std 5MT No 73082 'Camelot' (courtesy of Bluebell Railway) | SR West Country Class No 34046 'Braunton' (courtesy of Icons of Steam) | LMS Ivatt 2MT No 41312 (courtesy of Mid Hants Railway) | BR Std 4MT No 80072 (courtesy of Llangollen Railway)* | GWR Manor Class No 7820 'Dinmore Manor' (courtesy of Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd) | GWR Manor Class No 7822 'Foxcote Manor' (courtesy of Llangollen Railway) | GWR Modified Hall Class No 6960 'Raveningham Hall'* | SDJR 7F No 53808 | Andrew Barclay No 1219 'Caledonia Works'* *does not feature