View source for Autumn Steam Gala

[[File:GER_564_20170922.jpg|thumb|300px|right|2017 Autumn Steam Gala guest GER 564 at Arley]]For many enthusiasts, the '''Autumn Steam Gala''' is the highlight of the SVR year, involving in some years overnight running, and having the presence of visiting locomotives.

The first Autumn Steam Galas were referred to as "Enthusiasts' Days" or "Enthusiasts' Weekends"; these normally featured home locomotives only. In the 1980s, visiting locomotives began to appear and have done so for each year the Gala has run since 1990. The event also extended in duration and typically runs over four days Thursday to Sunday inclusive, with overnight running on the Friday and Saturday nights. Other common features include demonstration freight trains and shorter local, part-line services. One popular operation in previous years was the running of a "Breakfast train" using the [[Severn Valley Venturer]] stock.   

From time to time visiting locomotives are utilised for regular passenger services in the periods before and after the gala. They are also sometimes used for private photographic charters.

==Notable events==
*'''1975''' First Enthusiasts Day, with 11 locomotives in steam.<ref>SVR News 37</ref>
*'''1976''' First Enthusiasts Weekend.
*'''1980''' [[LMS Stanier Jubilee 45690 Leander]] participated before undergoing a contract boiler overhaul.
*'''1984''' First [[Steam Locomotives visiting the SVR for galas|guest locomotive]] at an Autumn Steam Gala (5051 "Drysllwyn Castle")
*'''1989''' The "Autumn Steam Spectacular" was the last Autumn Steam Gala featuring home locomotives only.<ref>SVR News 94</ref>  
*'''1993''' First overnight running took place.
*'''1998''' First three day gala.
*'''2000''' The Autumn Steam Gala was cancelled due to the [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 2000-2009#2000|boiler crisis]]. 
*'''2007''' The [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 2000-2009#2007|Autumn Steam Gala]] took place despite the [[2007 Storm Damage| storm damage]] which closed the line north of Bewdley. The Gala included services running on the main line to Birmingham Snow Hill as well as between Kidderminster and Bewdley, the only unaffected section of the SVR. 
*'''2016''' The Autumn Steam Gala was replaced by the [[Severn Valley Railway Timeline 2010-2019#2016|'Pacific Power']] event featuring visiting locomotives LNER Gresley A3 Pacific No. 60103 'Flying Scotsman' and LNER Peppercorn A1 Pacific No. 60163 'Tornado'.
*'''2020''' The Autumn Steam Gala was cancelled due to the [[2020 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic]]
*'''2021''' First announced as a fixed itinerary 'excursion' service under COVID-19 restrictions, it reverted to a more traditional operation with passengers able to choose their itineraries. The Railway, however, continued to offer a small number of private bookable compartments, where passengers were guaranteed exclusive use of a compartment on a single train throughout the day. To assist with social distancing, the number of tickets available each day was limited.
*'''2022''' There was evening, but not overnight, running. The reason given was to conserve coal supplies.
*'''2023''' Thursday Preview Day plus Friday to Sunday, with the return of overnight running on the Friday and Saturday night.
*'''2024''' There was again evening, but not overnight, running.

==Passenger numbers==
From time-to-time the SVR publishes the number of Gala passengers, according to the method of counting these which has varied over time (for example, since 2010 documents sent to shareholders became valid as a ticket which did not need to be exchanged for travel).<ref>[https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1936 SVR Forum shareholders' Passes thread]</ref> The following is an incomplete record:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year !! Number of passengers!! No of days (including preview days) !! Reference !! Notes
|-
| 2008 ||style="text-align:right;" |   7,596 || || <ref>SVR(H) published accounts</ref> ||
|-
| 2009 ||style="text-align:right;" |   5,511|| || <ref name="ASG1 ">[https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3110&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=90 'Autumn Steam Gala 2014', SVR Online thread]</ref> ||  
|-
| 2010 || style="text-align:right;" |  5.775|| || <ref name="ASG1"/> ||  
|-
| 2011 ||style="text-align:right;" |   6,500|| ||  <ref name="ASG1"/> ||  
|-
| 2012 ||style="text-align:right;" |   6,318|| || <ref name="ASG1"/> ||  
|-
| 2013 ||style="text-align:right;" |   6,030|| || <ref name="ASG1"/> ||  
|-
| 2014 || style="text-align:right;" |  5,901|| || <ref name="ASG1"/> ||  
|-
| 2015 || style="text-align:right;" |  7,300||style="text-align:right;" |  4  || <ref>[https://forum.svr-online.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=3343&start=105 'Autumn Steam Gala 2015', SVR Online forum thread]</ref> ||  
|-
| 2016 ||style="text-align:right;" |   n/a|| style="text-align:right;" |  - ||  || Replaced by 'Pacific Power' event. 
|-
| 2017 ||style="text-align:right;" |   5,300|| || <ref>SVR News 200</ref> ||  
|-
| 2018 || style="text-align:right;" |  6,335|| style="text-align:right;" |  4 || <ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/epnovember18 Express Points November 2018]</ref> ||   
|-
| 2019 || style="text-align:right;" |  5,850 || || <ref name="NBI">NBI</ref> || 
|-
| 2020 || style="text-align:right;" |  n/a  || style="text-align:right;" |  -  ||  || Event cancelled  
|-
| 2021 ||   ||   ||    || 
|-
| 2022 || style="text-align:right;" |  >5,500   ||   || <ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/bloct22 Branch Lines October 2022]</ref> || 
|-
| 2023 || style="text-align:right;" |  5,156   || style="text-align:right;" |  4  ||  || 
|-
| 2024 || style="text-align:right;" |  5,558   || style="text-align:right;" |  4 ||  <ref name="NBI"/> || 
|-
|}

==See also==
*[[Steam Locomotives visiting the SVR for galas]]
*[[SVR Passenger numbers]]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Featured articles]] 
[[Category: Special events]]