Embsay & Bolton Abbey Beer & Diesel Weekend 29-31/8/25

[Iskra]

The railway seem to have put a decent little event together.

Locomotives classes featured are 31 (Eastern Rail Services), 35 (visiting from the ELR), 37, 20, 08 and 03.

Notably, this event is accessible for those who don’t drive as a free bus is being provided ‘from nearby towns.’

Beer Festival | Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway

Diesel Gala & Beer Festival​

TICKETS
TICKETS

Diesel & Beer Festival – A Long Weekend of Trains, Ales & Live Music!​

All aboard for the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway Diesel & Beer Festival, taking place 29th, 30th & 31st August! This year’s event is shaping up to be our biggest yet – with a packed timetable of diesel action, top-quality beers, and live entertainment across the weekend.
Home Fleet Running All Weekend:

• Class 37
• Class 20
• Eastern Rail Services’ Class 31
• Guest locomotive: Hymek 7076
• Our small diesels – Class 08 and Class 03 – will also be out and about

Onboard and station bars will be serving up 25 real ales, alongside craft gins, rums, and more – all while you ride through the stunning scenery of the Yorkshire Dales.
Friday Night Live – Music TBC
Saturday Night Live – The Killers Tribute Band!
On the train ALL Weekend Live music will be throughout the day.
Our evening show on the Saturday at Bolton Abbey Station is set to be a highlight – and tickets will go fast for this unmissable performance!
Whether you’re here for the locos, the real ales, or the live music – this is one diesel-powered weekend you don’t want to miss.

Ticket Prices –
First Class 3 Day Adult Rover – £85
First Class 3 Day Child Rover – £75
First Class 2 Day Adult Rover – £58
First Class 2 Day Child Rover – £48
First Class Day Adult Rover – £32
First Class Day Child Rover – £22
3 Day Adult Rover – £55
3 Day Child Rover – £45
2 Day Adult Rover – £38
2 Day Child Rover – £28
Adult Day Rover – £22
Child Day Rover – £12

Meet Hymek D7076 – Our Guest Diesel Locomotive​

Meet D7076, a vintage British Rail Class 35 “Hymek” diesel locomotive built in 1962 by Beyer Peacock in Manchester.
It’s one of 101 Hymeks built as part of BR’s 1960s modernisation plan, it had a short service life hauling passenger and freight trains in the Western Region before being withdrawn from service by May 1973.
Instead of ending up at the scrapyard, D7076 survived by becoming a research engine at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby, and it was later restored to working order using parts donated by its sister locomotive D7096.
Today, D7076 is one of only four Hymeks to escape scrapping and is kept in full working order at the East Lancashire Railway.
We’re thrilled that this historic loco will be visiting the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway’s Annual Beer Festival & Diesel Gala on August 29–31, kindly on loan from the East Lancashire Railway for the weekend – a huge thank you to our friends at the ELR for making this visit possible!
Come along and ride behind this fantastic loco as it graces the Yorkshire Dales metals for the first time!

Dales Dining​

Our other offering shouldn’t be missed before a day of sampling the finest cask ales the Dales has to offer!
For festival fodder throughout the weekend, our dining cars will be serving a full English breakfast onboard our fabulous dining carriages.
Book a First Class Day Rover and start your visit with a hearty cooked breakfast, as you travel through the wonderful Yorkshire countryside.
With an intensive timetable of diesel hauled delights, breakfast trains, hand pulls and foot stompin tunes, we have a perfect end of summer blow out!
Come on down and enjoy all the fun of real ale on rail!

​

BREAKFAST MENU

Fresh orange followed by fresh ground filter coffee or our delightful Yorkshire Tea
~
Bacon, Sausages, Scrambled egg, Hash brown, Black pudding, Beans, Mushrooms, Tomato, Toast
(vegetarian option includes Quorn sausages)
~
Free refills of Tea and Coffee on your return journey

Home fleet​

Running alongside our visiting loco (Hymek 7076), is our railway’s home fleet.
37294, our trusty tractor, a true thoroughbred with an impressive history that led to it being know as ‘Le Beast’ in a past life…
20110, our type 1 classic, not often seen out and about but the perfect loco for pacing the Yorkshire Dales.

Beer-Ex​

We’ll be running a Beer-Ex on Friday and Saturday evenings, until 10PM.
Friday Beer-Ex – Hymek 7076
Saturday Beer-Ex – class 37

Rods Rods Rods​

Both Shunters will see action over the gala weekend with recently arrived D2084, resplendent in its British Rail green livery, joined with our Jocko 08773 in corporate BR blue.

FREE BUS​

We’re aiming to put on a free bus from a couple of local towns. Details TBC here.

Sponsored by Bibby’s of Ingleton​

Thompson Buffet​

Last year, this stunning coach has just has it’s external structure re-built and we have just completed a stunning-re-paint too.
It only comes out for special occasions, and this is one such occasion!
The legendary bar, which featured in the the 1950’s BFI film ‘The Elizabethan Express’ will be well stocked with the finest ales that Yorkshire has to offer – 25 of them!

Photos: Rodney Towers / Nick Stringer / Rob Shaw

Artisan Gin Bar including gins from The Artful Pour​

We’ll have a great range of delectable gins for all artisan gin lovers! Slingsbys of Harrogate, Masons dry Yorkshire gin and The Artful Pour!
PREMIUM CRAFT GINS
Yorkshire Dry
English Rhubarb
Pink Grapefruit
Cucumber & Mint
Violet
Passion Fruit

 

[david737]

No timetables or loco roster published yet, as a member of this railway I've checked the members portal as well nothing on there either. The connecting bus will probably be only from Skipton as in previous years.

 

[Iskra]

So still no details on the website yet, and it’s the night before *facepalm*

 

[Denis103]

Timetables now on the Facebook page. No sign of shunters working on any of the 3 days

 

[Iskra]

Train timetables and bus shuttle timetables are now on the website for all 3 days. Extensive beer menu available described too

Timetables now on the Facebook page. No sign of shunters working on any of the 3 days

Shunter services withdrawn due to lack of traincrew apparently.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Aug 2025 ==

I had a great day overall.

Positives:

- Loco line up; decent for a small railway
- Quality of the rolling stock
- Catering/beer offering (although unfortunate the bread didn’t turn up, but this was handled well)
- Friendliness of most volunteers
- Frequency of the timetable; although I’m not sure why they didn’t just top and tail loco’s once the timetable started slipping.
- Bus shuttle
- Thrashy driving
- Decent value for money

Negatives:

- The quality and timeliness of the communications/advertising of the event. This must have really dented footfall.
- Carriage formations weren’t ideal for enthusiast enjoyment.
- Music should have been in a marquee somewhere, not on the train.

My footage from the day:

 

[Notabene]

Great footage

 

[Iskra]

Great footage

Thank you!

 

[xotGD]

Thrashy driving

Good to hear that. The time I went to get the 37 in the book, it was an all-day stagger on load 2.

 

[Iskra]

Good to hear that. The time I went to get the 37 in the book, it was an all-day stagger on load 2.

Ouch!

Luckily both trains were load 6 this time. I honestly didn’t know that they had so many coaches…

One of the volunteers was telling me that they run their Polar Express train as load 12 with a loco on each end, which must be quite a sight!

 

[alexl92]

Train timetables and bus shuttle timetables are now on the website for all 3 days. Extensive beer menu available described too


Shunter services withdrawn due to lack of traincrew apparently.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Aug 2025 ==

I had a great day overall.

Positives:

- Loco line up; decent for a small railway
- Quality of the rolling stock
- Catering/beer offering (although unfortunate the bread didn’t turn up, but this was handled well)
- Friendliness of most volunteers
- Frequency of the timetable; although I’m not sure why they didn’t just top and tail loco’s once the timetable started slipping.
- Bus shuttle
- Thrashy driving
- Decent value for money

Negatives:

- The quality and timeliness of the communications/advertising of the event. This must have really dented footfall.
- Carriage formations weren’t ideal for enthusiast enjoyment.
- Music should have been in a marquee somewhere, not on the train.

My footage from the day:

Just curious re your comment about the carriage formations? At the Hunslet Gala, the dining set was formed with the two kitchen cars in the middle which is logical but also meant you couldn't walk through the train from one end to the other - i'm guessing similar?

Ouch!

Luckily both trains were load 6 this time. I honestly didn’t know that they had so many coaches…

One of the volunteers was telling me that they run their Polar Express train as load 12 with a loco on each end, which must be quite a sight!

Yeah - the actual Polar Express loco on one end (so far it's been 52322; I imagine this year it'll be Hunslet 2890) and then usually a diesel on the back.

 

[Iskra]

Just curious re your comment about the carriage formations? At the Hunslet Gala, the dining set was formed with the two kitchen cars in the middle which is logical but also meant you couldn't walk through the train from one end to the other - i'm guessing similar?


Yeah - the actual Polar Express loco on one end (so far it's been 52322; I imagine this year it'll be Hunslet 2890) and then usually a diesel on the back.

Both sets had a kitchen car at one end, so you couldn’t get near the loco at that end. However the main set which featured the Hymek/Class 37 on it also had a directors saloon on the other end (see video thumbnail above). In the morning, only the 1/3 of the saloon furthest from the locomotive was open to passengers. From lunchtime they had a live band in the part of the directors saloon right behind the loco, with the music piped over the tannoy into the Mk1’s.

Live music was a nice idea, but the point of a diesel gala is that you can hear the locos, so it was a little naive. I’m not really sold on the idea of on-train bands, I think they should be in a marquee somewhere.

 

[alexl92]

Thanks. I'm a member so if they ask for feedback I'll pass it on!

 

[xotGD]

Both sets had a kitchen car at one end, so you couldn’t get near the loco at that end. However the main set which featured the Hymek/Class 37 on it also had a directors saloon on the other end (see video thumbnail above). In the morning, only the 1/3 of the saloon furthest from the locomotive was open to passengers. From lunchtime they had a live band in the part of the directors saloon right behind the loco, with the music piped over the tannoy into the Mk1’s.

Live music was a nice idea, but the point of a diesel gala is that you can hear the locos, so it was a little naive. I’m not really sold on the idea of on-train bands, I think they should be in a marquee somewhere.

Sounds like they failed to pass the ideas by a single diesel crank, otherwise they would have been binned.

 

[D6130]

The kitchen car at the rear of the train hailed by the Ped in the first sequence sounds as though it has mega wheel flats. That won't do the vehicle or the track any good. Time to hire a low-loader (expensive) and cart it off to a wheel lathe somewhere. (Very expensive!)

 

[Iskra]

Sounds like they failed to pass the ideas by a single diesel crank, otherwise they would have been binned.

Agreed.

However, I must stress that it was still an enjoyable event with a good locomotive line up. A little more organisation and attention to detail would have just elevated it a notch

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Sep 2025 ==

The kitchen car at the rear of the train hailed by the Ped in the first sequence sounds as though it has mega wheel flats. That won't do the vehicle or the track any good. Time to hire a low-loader (expensive) and cart it off to a wheel lathe somewhere. (Very expensive!)

It’s a line that does a lot of catering, which probably brings in most of the revenue so I don’t know if they can afford to be without it? Maybe it’s a task for over the winter?