NEARLY 3,300 passengers visited the West Somerset Railway’s ‘mixed traffic weekend’ from June 15 to June 17 to enjoy a mixture of vintage diesel and some steam locomotives in action.The theme of the weekend was ‘Western Region in 1965’, the period when steam was finally giving way to diesels in the Westcountry.
To this end, the WSR turned out a fleet of diesel locomotives appropriate to the period.
D1010 ‘Western Campaigner’, Class 14 D9526, Class 47 D1661 ‘North Star’, and Class 25 D7523 were all part of a collection by the Diesel and Electric Preservation Group, based in Williton, while guests D832 ‘Onslaught’ and Hymek D7076 were hired from the East Lancashire Railway, and Class 14 D9520 came from the Nene Valley Railway.
Two of the WSR’s resident diesel shunting locomotives worked passenger trains between Minehead and Dunster on the Saturday and steam duties were undertaken by GWR engines 4160 and 5553.
In addition, D1015 ‘Western Champion’ made a visit to the line with yet another excursion train to Minehead on the Saturday from the national network.
The West Somerset had not held a diesel themed event since 2005 and it was pleased with the number of passengers who travelled.
WSR general manager Paul Conibeare said: “Our event coincided with a diesel weekend on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire and we did have some concerns if this would affect the number of visitors we saw, but obviously the attraction of our line-up of machines that are no longer seen on the main lines proved a hit.
“The West Somerset will remain predominantly a steam railway, but clearly there is a good market for us in special, suitably-themed, diesel special events.”
- Our photograph (top) shows diesel locomotive D1010 and a steam train at Blue Anchor Station. Photo by Beverley Zehetmeier, courtesy of www.wsr.org.uk.
- Our photograph (below) shows a diesel locomotive D7076 in a cutting. Photo by Dean Fisher, courtesy of www.wsr.org.uk.
No comments:
Post a Comment