Loughborough UK Study Tour Bulletin Report
October 6th -9th 2011
34007 on loan from the Mid Hants railway arrives at Rothley 7th October 2011
The Club UK Study tour to Loughborough for the Great Central
Railway Steam Railway magazine sponsored Autumn Steam Gala took place over
the extended weekend of 6th to 9th October. This was the first occasion
that this brilliant gala ran over four days but the Thursday and Friday
timetabled action is to a lesser extent in comparison with that of the Saturday
and Sunday.
Over the weekend an intensive schedule of passenger and freight turns are worked entirely by steam. The locomotives active at the gala were 30777 Sir Lamiel returning to the railway after an absence, 34007 Wadebridge visiting from the Mid Hants railway, 7F No 88 ex-S & D 2-8-0 in dark blue, 8F 2-8-0 No. 8624 in LMS maroon, GCR residents Jinty 0-6-0T No. 47406, O4 2-8-0 No. 63601, N2 0-6-2 No.1744 in apple green and No 78019 BR Standard 2MT 2-6-0.
Members of the group made their own way to Loughborough. In the writer's case it was the 10.30 from St Pancras to Loughborough Midland on the Friday morning because it was cheaper than the faster preceding 10.25! After extricating himself from the station car park reconstruction site, the writer arrived at Loughborough Central for an afternoon of relaxed riding and photographing at Rothley and Leicester North. The group then met in the early evening at the Beauchief Hotel where we were staying in Loughborough for an excellent meal in a nearby Chinese restaurant, to set the weekend off in style.
On Saturday morning, after an excellent full breakfast the participants set off to enjoy the gala in their own ways. The writer shuttled up and down to Rothley, Leicester North and Quorn, both riding and photographing. The weather was not quite so good as the Friday afternoon and the mail drop demonstration at Quorn, with 30777 Sir Lamiel hauling the TPO set, took place in a haze of drizzle. That was greatly offset later in the day however when the writer, about to board the 8F-hauled local service from Rothley to Loughborough, found he could ride on the footplate for an extra tenner. That the 8F was running tender first and is in a spurious maroon LMS livery was irrelevant!! The official main highlight of the day was the opening at 12.30 by the local MP of the newly installed turntable at Quorn. It is excellent that the Railway is recognised in high places for its value to the local community.
The Saturday evening meal -again an excellent repast- was at The Manor House at Quorn (that is its actual name!) which is opposite the exit to the car park at Quorn station.
The Sunday was spent in a similar manner to Saturday. The writer travelled to Rothley and for most of the morning and early afternoon just waited for the procession of steam services to arrive. The same occurred later at Quorn and indeed such is the frequency that very little time seemed to elapse between the arrival of one train and the next!. The last service of the day and indeed the whole gala was from Quorn up line platform over
the crossover to the down line to Loughborough with 30777 at the front and the 8F at the rear. Participants made their own way home that day. The writer returned to the hotel to collect baggage and then it was the Meridian on the 19.01 service, from Loughborough Midland to St Pancras, which arrived 10 minutes early.
The gala weekend was hugely enjoyable. For a child of the now long-departed BR steam era, the writer was in his element; watching, riding and photographing lots of main line steam activity to his heart's content. Of course it requires some imagination and a suspension of credulity but this Gala really is the next best thing to a steam era summer Saturday level of service. The Great Central Railway deserves the highest praise for planning, organising and putting on such a wonderful spectacle. The writer thanks all the other participants for their support and especially Dennis Munday for the Saturday evening transport back to the hotel.
Footnote: The Great Central at Loughborough will be the subject of a talk, Forty Years of Forward by Tony Sparks and Tom Ingall, to Central London branch in September 2012. As this Study Tour was such a success, there will be another weekend in Loughborough for the Autumn gala in 2012. We have been offered a Saturday night presentation and dinner at Lovatt House, the newly restored headquarters of the present GCR. We have also been offered a very good price for the hotel bed and breakfast, so join us next October for a really good Steam weekend! Further details will be announced.
Bob Stonehouse, October 14th 2011.
The maroon-liveried 8F No 8624 arrives on a freight at Rothley 9th October 2011.
Over the weekend an intensive schedule of passenger and freight turns are worked entirely by steam. The locomotives active at the gala were 30777 Sir Lamiel returning to the railway after an absence, 34007 Wadebridge visiting from the Mid Hants railway, 7F No 88 ex-S & D 2-8-0 in dark blue, 8F 2-8-0 No. 8624 in LMS maroon, GCR residents Jinty 0-6-0T No. 47406, O4 2-8-0 No. 63601, N2 0-6-2 No.1744 in apple green and No 78019 BR Standard 2MT 2-6-0.
Members of the group made their own way to Loughborough. In the writer's case it was the 10.30 from St Pancras to Loughborough Midland on the Friday morning because it was cheaper than the faster preceding 10.25! After extricating himself from the station car park reconstruction site, the writer arrived at Loughborough Central for an afternoon of relaxed riding and photographing at Rothley and Leicester North. The group then met in the early evening at the Beauchief Hotel where we were staying in Loughborough for an excellent meal in a nearby Chinese restaurant, to set the weekend off in style.
30777 arrives at Rothley with SR green stock on 8th October 2011.
On Saturday morning, after an excellent full breakfast the participants set off to enjoy the gala in their own ways. The writer shuttled up and down to Rothley, Leicester North and Quorn, both riding and photographing. The weather was not quite so good as the Friday afternoon and the mail drop demonstration at Quorn, with 30777 Sir Lamiel hauling the TPO set, took place in a haze of drizzle. That was greatly offset later in the day however when the writer, about to board the 8F-hauled local service from Rothley to Loughborough, found he could ride on the footplate for an extra tenner. That the 8F was running tender first and is in a spurious maroon LMS livery was irrelevant!! The official main highlight of the day was the opening at 12.30 by the local MP of the newly installed turntable at Quorn. It is excellent that the Railway is recognised in high places for its value to the local community.
The Saturday evening meal -again an excellent repast- was at The Manor House at Quorn (that is its actual name!) which is opposite the exit to the car park at Quorn station.
Somerset and Dorset 2-8-0 No 88 arrives at Quorn with the rake of mineral wagons on 9th October 2011.
The Sunday was spent in a similar manner to Saturday. The writer travelled to Rothley and for most of the morning and early afternoon just waited for the procession of steam services to arrive. The same occurred later at Quorn and indeed such is the frequency that very little time seemed to elapse between the arrival of one train and the next!. The last service of the day and indeed the whole gala was from Quorn up line platform over
the crossover to the down line to Loughborough with 30777 at the front and the 8F at the rear. Participants made their own way home that day. The writer returned to the hotel to collect baggage and then it was the Meridian on the 19.01 service, from Loughborough Midland to St Pancras, which arrived 10 minutes early.
The gala weekend was hugely enjoyable. For a child of the now long-departed BR steam era, the writer was in his element; watching, riding and photographing lots of main line steam activity to his heart's content. Of course it requires some imagination and a suspension of credulity but this Gala really is the next best thing to a steam era summer Saturday level of service. The Great Central Railway deserves the highest praise for planning, organising and putting on such a wonderful spectacle. The writer thanks all the other participants for their support and especially Dennis Munday for the Saturday evening transport back to the hotel.
Footnote: The Great Central at Loughborough will be the subject of a talk, Forty Years of Forward by Tony Sparks and Tom Ingall, to Central London branch in September 2012. As this Study Tour was such a success, there will be another weekend in Loughborough for the Autumn gala in 2012. We have been offered a Saturday night presentation and dinner at Lovatt House, the newly restored headquarters of the present GCR. We have also been offered a very good price for the hotel bed and breakfast, so join us next October for a really good Steam weekend! Further details will be announced.
Bob Stonehouse, October 14th 2011.