Winter Steam Gala
From SVR Wiki
The Winter Steam Gala is the newest and smallest of the three steam galas, after the autumn and spring events. It is held on the last weekend of the 'Festive' season, after the Christmas services. It closes the SVRSevern Valley Railway's running season, before the winter break in public services.
It typically relies on 'home fleet' locomotives rather than guests. They operate a busy timetable including local services stopping at Eardington, evening services, special trains and double-heading. Other attractions have included a book fair, photography fair and ‘N’ gauge railway layouts.
Notable events
- 2024 First Winter Steam Gala, held on 6-7 January 2024. It saw the first gala since a lengthy overhaul for Stanier Mogul 42968 (running as LMSLondon Midland & Scottish Railway 2968), and the end of the boiler 'ticket' for 'Flying Pig' 43106. 7812 Erlestoke Manor, 75069, 34027 (as 21C127) and 7714 were also used. Visiting S160 class locomotive 2253 Omaha was rostered but was unable to take part due to mechanical issues.
- 2025 60th anniversary year. GWR 1450 returned after overhaul. The Railway hosted the largest gathering of representatives from heritage railways to mark the start of the Railway 200 celebrations.
Passenger numbers
From time-to-time the SVRSevern Valley Railway publishes the number of Gala passengers.
| Year | Number of passengers | Reference | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | >2,500 | [1] | The gala attracted more than 2,500 paying passengers, with revenue twice that as had been expected. |
| 2025 |
