There were 4 visiting locos for the Gala this year, as follows:-
GWR 4-4-0 no. 3440 “City of Truro”
GWR 4-4-0 no. 9017 “Earl of Berkeley”
GWR 2-6-2T no. 5526
GWR 2-6-2T no. 5542
Unfortunately, GWR 4-6-0 no. 6024 “King Edward I” was unable to attend, due to a hot axle box on one of the bogie wheels.

Resident locos seen in action were:-
GWR 0-6-0ST no. 813
GWR 2-6-2T no. 4566
GWR 2-6-2T no. 5164
GWR 0-6-0PT no. 5764
GWR 4-6-0 no. 7802 “Bradley Manor”
GWR 4-6-0 no. 7812 “Erlestoke Manor”
LMS 2-6-0 no. 42968
LMS 2-6-0 no. 46446 (actually no. 46443 renumbered for the event)

For me, the Friday started at Bewdley station, where I spent a few hours before heading to “Safari Park Curve” for some distant shots of the trains, finally returning to Bewdley station.
On the Saturday morning I made an early start at Kidderminster, to see a special pass through on the main line, heading to Kingswear. This was hauled by Class 40 no. 40145, but photos of that will appear elsewhere. Trains had been running through the night on the SVR so there was no waiting for the first train of the day, in fact there were 5 steam locos at Kidderminster just before 07.30. when the 2 Prairies departed on a 10 coach. After several hours I headed for “Safari Park Curve” with the purpose of seeing the 2 4-4-0s double heading. Meeting up with Margaret & KC, we went to Arley for lunch, then I caught the train to Highley behind 9017 for a few hours at the Engine House, “watching the trains go by”, before returning to Bewdley to collect my car & head home.
Kidderminster was my starting point on Sunday morning for more photos, before catching the train to Arley for lunch. Once again, 9017 took me to Highley - I enjoyed it so much there the previous day! After a few hours as the shadows began to grow longer, I caught the train back to Kidderminster & headed home. A great weekend!

315 photos from the SVR Autumn Steam Gala 2008

(On the thumbnail page “Title +” = loco number order, “File name +” = in time order)