Monthly Archives: September 2009

SVR 30th September

Bewdley today. As we arrived, D8188 was just leaving in the Kidderminster direction with a wagon or two. 46443 was working the service train, which is only running between Kidderminster & Highley until track repairs at Hampton Loade are completed.

41241 was “on shed” and 5164 in light steam adjacent to the goods yard. A road-railer was also seen heading towards Arley with some sleepers.

Update 198. SVR Autumn Gala day 2 photos

All the gala photos from the weekend will go into 1 big album, but there will also be 3 smaller albums for each of the days. As of today, the photos from the second day are now complete:-

Link to photos

The forecast was for “full sun” all day, but it didn’t turn out like that. I had planned for longer shots today, as a change from the previous day, to add variety to the photos.

SVR 27th September, day 3 of gala

Weatherwise, a very dull day. Trains seemed to be running without problems. Started the day at Arley, as the freight was due to spend half an hour or so in the yard to allow other trains to pass. After sandwiches with Margaret & KC, I headed down to Bewdley behind Kinlet Hall. A few hours down there gave me the opportunity for more close up photos of all the visiting locos as they passed by.

With no sun to brighten the photos, after photographing 43106/41241 I decided to hop on the train & return to Arley. Enjoyable weekend though, at least it was dry.

Update 197. Severn Valley Railway 2009 Autumn Steam Gala, visiting locos 1744, 4936, 5643 & 41241

It will take several days to sort through the large number of photos I take at gala events. The first batch of photos from Friday have been uploaded, with more to follow in a day or so.

Link to photos (these are just from the first day, other days will follow later

A very steamy photo for a change, 41241 & 43106 departing from Kidderminster:-

47s, 37 & 20s at Small Heath

A few hours out today to see the Colas working, 47805 & 47839 on the Burton to Dollands Moor. Running late was the DRS Eastleigh to Crewe move with 37609, 20304 & 20305. This was held in the loop at Small Heath, and as my train passed it – I wondered if I could beat the DRS locos to Walsall????? Allan was with me, he knew the train times & we had about 7 minutes to get from Moor St to New St.

Our unit arrived at Walsall, no sign of the DRS locos as yet. Allan checked with somebody – not through yet. There was an amber on platform 2, then an announcement “non-stop train approaching”, followed by the sound of a 37 from the tunnel. No time to get to the sunny side on platform 1, so photos from the “shady side”.

With the SVR gala starting tomorrow, it’ll be a while before I sort these photos!

Planning to change web host soon

My hosting charges for the web sites are too expensive for me, so it is time for a change – trouble is, there are so many hosts & it is not easy to decide which to use. After several days of checking adverts & reviews, I chose one. Didn’t turn out as I expected, so trying another – fortunately this one is looking better.

It will take me weeks to copy across all the files as they total around 4Gb of data, good job I’m not on a dial-up connection! So far, KC’s gallery has been set up with the new host, and is working correctly. Before I can actually start using the new host, the other galleries will have to be transferred, so it will be a few weeks yet.

In theory, you shouldn’t notice any difference, the addresses of the links will stay the same and everything should appear as it does now. The photos on the new host seem to load at about the same speed as my present host, but even if they are slightly slower it should barely be noticeable. What does matter is the money I am saving!!!

Anway, there is plenty of web space, so room for many more 1000’s of photos……..

Update 196. 43106 works a service train, also 41241, 5643 & 1744 at Kidderminster

The posting in the SVR category today describes what was happening at Kidderminster today, so I wont repeat it in this post.

Let’s just say I was pleased to finally see & photograph 43106 working a service train, also the 3 recent arrivals for the gala – 41241, 5643 & 1744.

Link to photos

Took a while to decide which photo to show here, but decided on “our” loco, you’ll have to follow the link to see the visitors.

SVR 23rd September

Thought I would try Kidderminster today, my luck was in – 43106 was working a service train and was about to depart. The signals were set as I headed for the footbridge, although there was a change of plan for a quick movement of an 08 shunter, giving me time to check the camera settings.

Before the “Pig” departed, 5643, recently arrived from Llangollen, passed by with 813 and waited in the loop adjacent to the carriage shed. 43106 eventually departed, looking & sounding very good, leaving 41241 & 1744 at the station.

Heading round to the SVR car park, I managed some photos of 41241 (not in steam) & 1744, which was in the process of being unloaded from the transporter.

Check the photo updates page for link to photos.

SVR 22nd September

Headed to Bewdley for lunch, also hoping to see the “Flying Pig” out & about – unfortunately it wasn’t.

Still, I enjoyed my sausage, egg & chips at the station buffet (as always) Oh, before I forget, 42968 & 7812 were working the service trains.

On the way home I stopped off at Kidderminster, just in case anything exciting was happening there. Within a couple of minutes a Freightliner Class 66 headed north on a Croft to Brierley Hill stone train. In the sidings by the carriage works, 1744, the N2 from the Great Central had been unloaded, didn’t get any photos of it though

SVR 20th September

No guessing where we walked the dog!

It was very much a “backwards” day. 42968 backwards with Venturer stock, 5164 backwards n/b with teaks, 46443 backwards s/b on Footplate Experience with GW set, even 4936 had been turned and was backwards n/b on the diner plus observation saloon, so a nice load of 9. Finally, 4566 arrived s/b chimney first!

There was a charter with a saloon, I believe with 5764, but we headed home before seeing that.