56049 Robin of Templecombe in action + GWR 57604 & GBRF 57306 at the Severn Valley Diesel Festival!

More action from the second day of the Seven Valley Railway Spring Diesel Festival which this year features a locomotive lineup paying homage to 40 years of General Motors EMD traction in the UK, marking four decades since the pioneering Class 59 locomotives arrived in 1986.

Today we we made the most of the comprehensive working timetable in operation, riding the trains, beginning with a trip on the WCRC Mk1 set hauled appropriately by WCRC 57010, on a semi fast ran stopping only at Bewdley then running direct to Bridgnorth. We then ran back to Hampton Loade, switching for the elegant Eastern region BR Class 55 Deltic 55009 ‘Alycidon’ splendidly turned out by the Deltic Preservation Society and running on both engines with the napiers howling through the valley back to Bridgnorth and by this point thankfully the weather had improved.

Here we took a full run on the same rake behind London Transport liveried Class 20 'Sir John Betjeman' arriving at Kidderminster where the magnificent Maybach diesel hydraulic D1015 'Western Champion' attached to the stock. We also saw some encouraging signs of life around the visiting Colas Grid 56049 ‘Robin of Templecombe’ which had missed its turns yesterday owing to Colas driver shortage. We took the Western to Bewdley, before watching it depart and seeing the Grid through with the WCRC set on its only run of the day, perhaps even more poignant given the information doing the rounds at the moment reporting that several Colas Grids are indeed marked for export to Ghana!

As the day continued we got more Maybach mileage with the Diesel Electric Preservation Group Class 35 Hymek D7018, visiting from the West Somerset Railway and double heading with the resident SVR Class 14 back to Kidderminster where we took the opportunity to head across to the mainline station and witness the mainline arrival of two more Class 57 examples, 57604 'Pendennis Castle' and 57306 'Branch Line Society', the former looking more alive than the last time we saw it with the stricken sleeper being rescued from Highbridge Loop! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftmcFzAwkqU&t=512s

We finished the day completing the holy hydraulic trinity with maybach mileage behind Warship D821 'Greyhound' double headed with the Class 14 to Bewdley, before one final sterling performance of the Deltic on both engines back to Kidderminster bringing to a close a brilliant Friday spent at the event | 15.05.2026

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