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[[File: 50009_Alycidon_20220901.jpg|thumb|300px|right|2022 Gala guest 50009 Alycidon]]The SVR regularly features '''Diesel Galas'''. From humble beginnings in 1979 using two home locomotives, these have grown to include visiting preserved locomotives and modern traction. The 2022 "Spring Diesel Festival" held over 4 days in May featured 8 guest locomotives. The "'''Autumn Diesel Bash'''" between 29 September and 2 October is planned to feature a further three guest locomotives. Latest details of this event can be found on the SVR website [https://www.svr.co.uk/events/autumn-diesel-bash Autumn Diesel Bash] page (external link).
==History==
For 1992, the now annual Diesel Gala reverted to May and became a 3-day event from Friday to Sunday with seven guest locomotives. This format was repeated in 1993 and 1994, with both years featuring 5 guest locomotives. However at the start of 1995, SVR News noted that "''The Thomas the Tank Engine and Autumn Steam Gala events brought successful business in 1994, and these will be repeated. The Diesel Gala was less so, and a different formula is to be tried in 1995. This involves our home-based diesel locos and the DMU operating on selected dates; there have been complaints of under-use of our own assets, and this is an attempt to remedy this.''"
Following this one-year absence, Diesel Galas returned in October 1986 1996 and October 19871997, although both were two-day events on Friday / Saturday featuring home locomotives only. October 1998 saw a similar format with a return to the use of guest locomotives (which would then feature in all subsequent diesel galas), while October 1999 reverted to a 3-day Friday to Sunday event.
2000 again saw a 3-day Friday to Sunday event end of season event with, for the first time, all trains on the Friday being diesel-hauled. This format continued until 2005, with a one-year switch to an April date in 2001.
*'''1986''' Annual 2-day Friday / Saturday gala reintroduced but with home locos only
*'''1988''' Guest locomotives reintroduced.
*'''1996''' Milk tanks were hired in to recreate BR Western Region scenes of the past
*'''1999''' 3-day gala Friday to Sunday reintroduced with 'diesel only' day on Friday
*'''2006''' No diesel gala.
*'''2016''' New 'Spring Diesel Festival format with significantly more guest locomotives. Sunday 'mixed traction' day from 2017 on.
*'''2019''' Reintroduction of an Autumn Diesel Gala with home locos only.
*'''2020''' No galas took place due to the [[2020 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic]]*'''2023''' The spring diesel festival took the theme of 'Celebrating five decades of diesel preservation' after [[BR Class 42 D821 Greyhound]] entered preservation in 1973. The first large diesel preserved was the prototype Deltic as a static exhibit in 1963, and the first mainline locomotive ex-LMS 0-6-0DM 7401 in June 1960, hauling trains that summer at the Middleton Railway. The first Winter gala took place, a one-day event in the week after Christmas, mostly using the home fleet.
==Passenger numbers==
!Year !! Number of passengers!! Reference !! Notes
|-
| 2015 1987 || 3style="text-align:right;" | 5,202370 || <ref name=AGM>Presentation to shareholders at subsequent AGM</ref>SVR internal ||
|-
| 2016 2015 Autumn || 4style="text-align:right;" | 3,800202|| <ref name=AGM>Presentation to shareholders at subsequent AGM</ref>||
|-
| 2017 2016 Spring Diesel Festival || style="text-align:right;" | 4,807800|| <ref name=AGM/> ||
|-
| 2017 Spring Diesel Festival || style="text-align:right;" | 4,807|| <ref name=AGM/> || |-| 2018 Spring Diesel Festival || style="text-align:right;" | 4,142|| <ref name=AGM/> || |-| 2018 Class 50 Golden Jubilee|| style="text-align:right;" | 3,617 || <ref name=AGM/> || |-| 2019 Autumn Diesel Gala||style="text-align:right;" | 2,427 || || Mainly featured the home fleet. |-| 2022 Spring || style="text-align:right;" | 4,500|| <ref name=NBI>Internal NBI </ref> || |-| 2022 Autumn ||style="text-align:right;" | 2,806|| <ref>[https://www.svrlive.com/bloct22 Branch Lines October 2022]</ref> || Fare-paying passengers, not counting shareholders travelling on their passes or passengers using complimentary tickets.|-| 2023 Spring ||style="text-align:right;" | 6,516 || <ref>[https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2023/05/severn-valley-railways-diesel-festival-breaks-loco-and-visitor-records.html Booth, Janine, 'Severn Valley Railway’s Diesel Festival breaks loco and visitor records', RailAdvent website, 23 May 2023] (Retrieved 24 May 2023)</ref> || More than 6,500 tickets sold across the four days, not counting shareholders travelling on their passes or passengers using complimentary tickets. This is the highest attendance at an SVR diesel enthusiast event.|-| 2023 Autumn ||style="text-align:right;" | 3,661|| || Fare-paying passengers.|-| 2023 Winter ||style="text-align:right;" | ~1,200|| <ref>The Railway Magazine, February 2024</ref> ||
|-
|}
==References==
<references />
