“The Welsh Marches”, run by Vintage Trains, is seen passing Langley Green on the way from Tyseley to Hereford. I noticed a head hanging out of the cab on the far side as the train approached, and it wasn’t going very fast, losing a couple of minutes between Smethwick & Rowley – but there can’t have been much of a problem as it was soon back on schedule and arrival time back in Birmingham was about half an hour early in the evening.

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You can see the head in this shot, don’t think he was trying to get in the photo!!

Last of the visiting locos seen at the Autumn Gala is Schools Class 4-4-0 no. 925 Cheltenham. I did see it briefly during a visit to the Mid Hants gala earlier in the year, but had more opportunity to photograph it during the SVR gala.

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8 coaches were no problem for this 4-coupled loco, seen approaching Highley

Another set of photos from the SVR Autumn Gala, this time showing 4936 in action. Also included are some photos of it at Smethwick Galton Bridge as it headed to Kidderminster before the gala. It hasn’t left the SVR yet, so there may be more photos to be added to this album if I see it working again during this visit.

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4936 approaching Highley, also Met. no. 1

As well as photos of it at the gala, it is seen arriving at Kidderminster on the Thursday and at Cradley Heath as it returns to Butterley on the Monday after the gala.

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46233 departing from Highley

Having uploaded my gala photos, it seemed a good idea to create an album to show all the photos of no. 1. You will also see the photos taken in 2012 when it ran some high speed test runs between Bewdley & Kidderminster, no other trains were running on that day. I was fortunate to notice the loco as I was driving down the bypass at Bewdley, otherwise I would not have any photos of that unusual event.

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No. 1 at Arley on 28/09/13, in use to train some TFL drivers

Met no. 1 was in use to train some TFL drivers, I believe. It was working 2 return runs with 3 coaches & I saw it at Arley on the first run. The other 3 locos were working the service trains.

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No. 1 at Arley