Great Central Railway Nottingham Diesel Gala 11th July 2015
The Great Central Railway Nottingham (GCRN) held a very reasonably priced diesel gala over this weekend, with day rovers only priced at £12 per day.
The full loco line-up was 25279, 31162, 41001, 47292, 56097, 66765 (GBRf) & 73110
The day didn’t get off to a good start for me when I managed to miss the first departure of 31162; which had been swapped to the 0930 departure from Ruddington two days before the gala and of course I hadn’t checked the timetable until I only had an hour to get for it! Needless to say I missed it by 15 minutes and as luck didn’t have it the first train wasn’t late on this occasion! All went well after doing the 66/25 combination to Rushcliffe Halt for 31162 back to Ruddington and its second trip to Loughborough went without issue at all. With 31162 being top & tail with 56097/41001 it had a hefty load to come back from Loughborough with and certainly proved its worth!
Upon arrival at Loughborough, 20 late, there was a swift car move on to get to Loughborough at the Great Central Railway to do 08528/08694 on their gronk shuttle. It worked a treat but unfortunately the 20 late arrival at Ruddington meant we didn’t have time to get back to Ruddington for the 1415 departure with 31162 so had to drive to Rushcliffe Halt instead; which proved fruitless in the end as 47292 replaced 31162 on the 1415 ex Ruddington as 31162 had an issue with an air brake valve under the control desk; the GCRN operations staff then not letting it work as a result.
When is a failure not a failure? When the loco has an air brake fault and is required to work a vacuum braked train which doesn’t require its air brakes to be operable! Bizarrely the GCRN operations staff were talked round this fact before the 1615 departure from Ruddington but due to their inability to accept this fact and resulting late decision the desk was already in bits inside 31162 and wouldn’t have been put back together in time for it to work the 1615 departure anyway; so an early bath it was and I left feeling quite glad that the gala ticket price was quite reasonable and not over priced!
Photos from the Gala:
