GBRF Gala @ Nene Valley Railway

[31160]

I can confirm 66799 69003 and 57310 along with the 47 and 08 are at washford cause I'm looking at them

 

[12LDA28C]

I can confirm 66799 69003 and 57310 along with the 47 and 08 are at washford cause I'm looking at them

Washford?

 

[31160]

Washford?

Yes,good point well made

 

[Ianigsy]

Just on my way home from the gala, having had a good weekend in spite of one or two snags. Saturday was marred by late running which deteriorated with each circuit- the stock to form the 1035 Peterborough-Wansford arrived full with a couple of hundred people waiting. Still, I had plenty of time to travel behind and photograph the guest locos and the loadings settled down in the end.

Unfortunately I missed my booked depot tour at 12 because the advertised bus from Peterborough NVR at 1125 didn’t show up, but this did give me an opportunity to travel behind all today’s locos and take in the Fletton branch shuttle.

An enjoyable gala, but I think the organisers will have a few things to take on board. The need for the Class 45 to act as a brake translator complicated the runrounds and the comparatively infrequent service to Peterborough meant that the first departure at a sensible time on Saturday was swamped.

 

[HST43257]

An enjoyable gala, but I think the organisers will have a few things to take on board. The need for the Class 45 to act as a brake translator complicated the runrounds and the comparatively infrequent service to Peterborough meant that the first departure at a sensible time on Saturday was swamped.

Certainly major timetable issues. Often only 5 mins in the schedule for people coming over the bridge at Wansford, and only 1 min dwells at Orton Mere. No chances to make up time and certainly worth looking at. As you say, the 45 runarounds were really not ideal

 

[Geml246]

For any similar future event they probably need to make it pre-book only. On the Saturday, I passed lots of people heading back to town , telling others not to bother as they couldn't get on & it was chaotic.. Also on board the trains because it was standing room only , there were lots of people saying they couldn't buy a ticket & had no intention of buying one because of the experience, so lots of revenue was lost.

 

[43096]

For any similar future event they probably need to make it pre-book only.

It isn't the answer.

Also on board the trains because it was standing room only , there were lots of people saying they couldn't buy a ticket & had no intention of buying one because of the experience, so lots of revenue was lost.

Only got themselves to blame for that - no tickets for sale at Peterborough station was not very clever. The answer would be a TTI or two doing sales at the station for the first part of the day. I do hope those who had no intention of buying but still attended are happy to look themselves in the mirror - it's pretty disgusting (and downright dishonest) to do that for a charity event.

The fundamental issue with the overcrowding was that they could only run one train at a time between Wansford and Peterborough, which meant the timetable had half the capacity it could have done. For what it's worth, I'd suggest:
1. Ditch the Fletton shuttles and run a Yarwell shuttle instead. This stuffed capacity as trains couldn't pass at Orton Mere.
2. Have trains pass at Orton Mere. I know there is a platform issue on one side that prevents longer trains calling - if needs be have them not stopping in one direction.
3. Use air brake stock. The timetable collapse was at least partly down to the running round of the Peak on the vac brake set. It adds time and risk. There is another air brake set on the railway but chose not to use it.

Doing that you address the capacity issues and take out a performance risk.

 

[JonathanH]

For any similar future event they probably need to make it pre-book only.

There would be a fair number of complaints if that happened and then there were spare seats later in the day.

One thing acknowledged in other discussion is that the numbers of passengers at galas will almost always reduce later in the day once people have had their fix of the locomotives on offer. It is generally early on when the numbers of passengers are at their highest.

The timetable essentially led to most passengers looking to follow the same itinerary because of the opportunities to cover the different traction on offer.

 

[31160]

Running the first train from Peterborough as load 1.5 in retrospectively could be seen as an error, was Sunday as busy as Saturday as the loco choices were better Saturday

 

[Richard Scott]

Running the first train from Peterborough as load 1.5 in retrospectively could be seen as an error, was Sunday as busy as Saturday as the loco choices were better Saturday

I went Sunday and it appeared that it was much calmer than what has been reported for the Saturday. Could get a seat without much problem on most trains.
To be fair, the cost was reasonable and it was a pleasant day out that, at the end of the day, was raising money for charity. I hope they did well just for this alone.
The appearance of 69009 wasn't the best choice but people were enjoying themselves. Well done to those who organised, it's not easy organising an event and pleasing everyone but sounds like lessons could be learned so as long as they are addressed if this runs again then not a problem. We can all be critical with benefits of hindsight.

 

[31160]

Yes I agree,even though the Saturday ran the trains above capacity it wasn't much worse than the SVR gala was on the Saturday there but if you're relying on public transport to get to and from the Saturday is always going to be easier than Sunday,also the use of "virgin" 69003 was always going to be popular,I hope they do it again but try and have a couple more coaches and that would be grand

 

[87electric]

Who did construct the timetable itself? I’m not sure it was NVR as the staff member on the Peterborough platform, as the 08 left behind a 100 passengers on Saturday morning, informed us by his megaphone that NVR had no part in the organisation side. He was so apologetic and maybe a tad concerned himself.
Anyway, most enjoyable for me. Just needs more thought for next time.

 

[Ianigsy]

I’m guessing that with an event like this, you would have to have an organising committee with representatives from GBRf, Key Publishing and the NVR. GBRf will say how long they can spare their locos and staff, bearing in mind that they do have an operation to run on Monday morning.

 

[Thornaby 37]

Footage of the event

 

[barringtoncem]

I attended this event on the Saturday but reluctantly gave up after a while as i think the number of people attending had been totally underesimated
i saw other people doing the same i believe the actual event was not organised by the NVR but GBRF still the history of Peterborough Station at the Local
Museum was well worth it

 

[87electric]

I attended this event on the Saturday but reluctantly gave up after a while as i think the number of people attending had been totally underesimated
i saw other people doing the same i believe the actual event was not organised by the NVR but GBRF still the history of Peterborough Station at the Local
Museum was well worth it

NVR might have had a hint of attendance via advance sales. What I don’t think was realised was that sought after 08 shunters will cause an initial clusterf***.