West Somerset Railway 2023 ‘Summer Diesel Festival’ - 8th to 10th June 2023 скачать в хорошем качестве

West Somerset Railway 2023 ‘Summer Diesel Festival’ - 8th to 10th June 2023

The West Somerset Railway once again held one of their ever popular Diesel Gala events with this years being labelled the ‘Summer Diesel Festival’ held over June 8-10 2023, the gala was scheduled to showcase as 11 locomotives and the lines resident 3-car DMU, out of these 11 locos were 5 visitors in the form of: Severn Valley based Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ No.D9551 courtesy of SVR Class 14 Ltd,Class 25 ‘Rat’ No.D7659 from Peak Rail and courtesy of the Waterman Heritage Trust,Class 33 ‘Crompton’ No.33002 ‘Sea King’ from the South Devon Railway and courtesy of the South Devon Diesel Traction Group,Class 50 No.50008 ‘Thunderer’ courtesy of Hanson and Hall and finally Class 55 ‘Deltic’ No.55009 ‘Alycidon’ courtesy of the Deltic Preservation Society. Supporting these 5 visitors were the resident fleet of Class 09 ‘Gronk’ No.D4107(Saturday only),Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ No.D9526, Class 33 ‘Cromptons’ Nos.D656(33048) and D6575(33057) and Class 35 ‘Hymeks’ Nos.D7017 and D7018(Friday only) and the DMU set which operated with D4107 on the Saturday between Bishops Lydeard and Norton Fitzwarren. Unfortunately a few weeks before the event was due to start it was announced that the visiting Class 50 No.50008 ‘Thunderer’ was unable to attend because 50008 is an air-braked loco and does not carry the earlier generation of vacuum braking equipment that is used by most heritage railways, including the WSR. This was known and the initial plan was to use a dual-braked (air and vacuum) loco as a ‘translator’ between the ‘50’ and the train, which is a practice that is used occasionally at other railways. Sadly however, as the operating procedures were being drawn up, it became clear that there was too much to be worked out and too many crews to be trained in the time available. The decision to withdraw the loco from the gala lineup was bound to create negative press, but the decision had to be taken. The good news is that the WSR have a number of coaches that are already fitted with dual braking and these coaches can be overhauled later this year and marshalled together into a dual-braked rake upon which crews can have refresher training, so we will then be able to welcome the class 50 and other air-braked locos to the railway in future years, and also unfortunately no replacement could be found for the 50 but it did mean that the locos still attending the event could get more action out of the weekend, another disappointment was that resident ‘Hymek’ No.D7018 wasn’t ready to participate in the event due to minor faults which were taking to long to be completed and the loco was sidelined on static display at Williton alongside other DEPG locos - ROF ‘Barclay’ No.578,Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ No.D9518 and Class 52 ‘Western’ No.D1010 ‘Western Campaigner’ and on Thursday ‘Hymek’ No.D7017 failed with problems to the interlock solenoid whilst working the final departure from Minehead - this being the 18:15 service bound for Bishops Lydeard, D7017 failed at Watchet and Class 33 ‘Crompton’ D6566 (33048) was sent out from Williton as ‘Thunderbird loco’ to rescue D7017 and it’s train to Bishops Lydeard. The loss of D7017 combined with the non-availability of sister D7018 necessitated a change to the timetable for the Friday, with loco allocations and crew rostering all having to be sorted out before the end of the day. Locomotive Line-up Class 09 ‘Gronk’ No.D4107 Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ No.D9526 Class 14 ‘Teddy Bear’ No.D9551 Class 25 ‘Rat’ No.D7659 Class 33 ‘Crompton’ No.33002 ‘Sea King’ Class 33 ‘Crompton’ No.D6566 Class 33 ‘Crompton’ No.D6575 Class 35 ‘Hymek’ No.D7017 Class 55 ‘Deltic’ No.55009 ‘Alycidon’ R.O.F ‘Barclay’ No.578