Severn Valley Railway meets. Next: TBA

Just a minor heads-up: the weather forecast for Saturday is currently "sunshine and heavy showers". Certainly nothing that will stop the day going ahead as planned, especially as we'll be under cover for most of it and the Unicorn is only about 400 yards from Hampton Loade station. Be prepared if you're bringing anything that doesn't like rain, though.

 

Absolutely; looking forward to seeing everyone very much. And who knows, with showers it's possible we'll miss all of them and have a largely dry day. It could happen! Only on The Hub. It definitely won't be as cold as the March gala, though!

If the SVR follow their usual practice, they'll post the weekend loco roster on Friday, and if I remember I'll copy it over here. The 11:10 will definitely be steam-hauled, but beyond that we'll have to wait and see.

 

Yes, the plan is to get the 11:10 from Kiddy as far as Hampton Loade. Assuming all goes well, we'll get to Hampton Loade at 12:08, so then it'll be off to the Unicorn for lunch. After we've eaten, there's no set plan, so I'll be happy to play it by ear and go with the consensus. The SVR timetable for this Saturday is under the cut here:

Spoiler: Timetable

I'll try to be at Kiddy SVR station (on the main concourse, since it has a roof!) from around 10:15-10:20 onwards.

 

Everything's still on course, and the timings are the same, so no worries there. A couple of bits of extra info, though:

1) I'm pleased to say that the weather forecast has slightly improved and it now looks as though after a damp and dreary start it's likely to cheer up. From the Met Office: "Cloud and patchy rain in the morning will gradually become more showery. During the afternoon, showers will die out and cloud will break up, letting the sunshine through. Maximum temperature 19 °C."

2) The loco roster for the weekend is now out. It's in a Traffic Notice PDF, so easier for me just to copy the details manually over here. Locos in passenger service tomorrow should be:

* GWR 2800 Class no. 2857 (2-8-0; in GWR green)
* GWR/BR 1500 Class no. 1501 (0-6-0PT; in BR green)
* LMS/BR Ivatt Class 4 no. 43106 (2-6-0; in BR black) -- the unique "Flying Pig"
* Class 50 diesel no. 50031 Hood (in inauthentic but striking InterCity livery)

Quite a nice selection there. If things stay as currently planned, our first train (the 11:10) will be hauled by 2857. I'm pleased about that, since not only is it a nice engine but it's 100 years old this year.

Regardless of what you end up doing tomorrow, I'll be at Kidderminster SVR (on the main concourse inside the front entrance) by the time the first of those trains from Moor Street gets in. So even if you get the earlier one, I'll definitely be around already.

If there are any last-minute problems, Twitter is the place I'm most likely to post -- @louderyay for those who don't already know. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow morning!

 

We'll miss you, but thank you! And of course, if/when we do another one of these, you'll be very welcome.

 

Good morning! For those who haven't seen Twitter: it's been raining here, but the sky is now slowly becoming lighter and there's just the occasional drop falling. One patch of rain currently in SW Wales looks like hitting this region around 11-12, but otherwise there's not much on the radar with our name on it, though I'd expect a few showers in the afternoon. In short: could be a lot worse.

I'm very tired as I only got about two hours' sleep for some reason, but I'm still looking forward to today. See you all later on!