The Water Cress Line, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, will be running its three-day annual Spring Steam Gala,and will get underway on Saturday the 29th and run to Monday the 1st of May.
The exciting event will see GWR 5205 Class No.5239 “Goliath” visit the Gala from the Dartmouth Steam Railway. The locomotive was built in Swindon in 1924.
Class 5205s were used as heavy coal trains in Wales and 5239 saw its working life spent at Neath ahead of being taken out of service and sent to scrap at the infamous Barry scrap yard. Dart Valley Railway rescued the locomotive from the scrapper's clutches in 1973 and it later entered traffic in 1978.
Also visiting the event will be GWR Castle No. 4079 Pendennis Castle from the Didcot Railway Centre. The castle's visit marks the first time the class has run on the line since 2014.
4079 Was the 7th of 171 Castle Class locomotives built at Swindon during 1924 and would work 16-coach trains on the East Coast Mainline from London Kings Cross, the locomotive was also proudly exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition in 1925 alongside ‘Flying Scotsman'.
‘Pendennis Castle' was withdrawn from service in 1964 and was purchased for preservation initially by Mike Higson and later by the Hon. John Gretton and Sir William McAlpine. It was based at Didcot before it became the Railway Centre we know today.
The locomotive was sold once again in 1977 4079 was sold to Hamersley Iron in Australia, where the locomotive undertook excursions on its 240-mile ore-carrying railway. 2000 saw ‘Pendennis Castle' offered to the Great Western Society in the UK where a deal was struck for the Society to pay for the repatriation and to restore the magnificent locomotive back to main-line running order which took place on the 2nd of April 2022.
Home fleet locomotives at the event include:
- 53808 7F thanks to the S&D Railway Trust.
- S15 Class 506 thanks to the Urie Locomotive Society.
- 41312 ‘Ivatt'
Other activities taking place during the Spring Steam Gala include:
- Behind the scene tours of Ropley workshops
- Driver experiences with ‘Kilmersdon' at Ropley yard from 10.30am to 3.20pm. Tickets can be purchased on the day at Ropley shop for £15.
- Steam crane demonstration at Ropley.
- Queen Mary brake van rides will be available on the Goods Train. However, these are limited
- The museum in the Old Goods Shed at Alresford station features an exhibit of artefacts from the Somerset & Dorset Railway Trust.
- Goods Shed exhibition ‘Delivering the Goods' at Medstead & Four Marks Station.
- Society stands and displays at Ropley station.
- West Country Buffet at Alresford station and Ropley's T-Junction for hot and cold meals, snacks and drinks.
- Alton Kiosk for hot & cold drinks.
- The gift shop in the Old Goods Shed at Alresford station will be open and selling a fantastic array of gifts, stationery, toys, books and more.
The Spring Steam Gala will be open each day from 9am to 6pm and the timetable is available to view here.
To find out more about the Gala or book tickets, please visit: https://watercressline.co.uk/special-days/spring-steam-gala/
