West Somerset Railway Diesel Gala June 2018

The West Somerset Railways diesel gala featuring locomotives
Class 20’s 20189 and 20142. This pair of the trusty English Electric will revive memories of “The Jolly Fisherman” and those trains that linked Yorkshire and the East Midlands with Skegness and the East Coast for many years.

Class 50 50035 “Ark Royal”. The first time a Class 50 will have worked to Minehead for a number of years. Affectionately known as “Hoovers” or “Vacs”, in their early days on the West Coast, they took holiday makers on their way towards Blackpool, Southport and the North Wales Coast. Later they became associated with routes to Weston-super-Mare, Dawlish, Torbay and the resort towns of Cornwall.

Class 45 45041 “Royal Tank Regiment”. Another class of loco that does not regularly appear on the WSR. The “Peaks” roamed far and wide on cross country trains and were a familiar sight on the sea wall near Dawlish and Teignmouth for a generation.

Class 55 55019 “Royal Highland Fusilier”. A very welcome return to the WSR for one of the surviving “Deltics” that revolutionised services on the East Coast main line. There they could be seen powering along the coastal sections between Newcastle and Edinburgh, having stopped off at York and occasionally venturing to Scarborough.

From the Williton based Diesel and Electric Preservation Group, the following locomotives are planned to appear including three returning from overhaul.

Class 35 “Hymek” D7017, giving a chance to experience one of the four survivors of the 101 strong class that have survived into preservation.

Class 33 “Crompton” D6566. Welcome back to this member of the rugged maids of all work class that were originally built for the Southern Region, but which were later to be found much further afield. Formerly numbered 33048, it will be working alongside its fellow “Crompton” D6575.

Class 52 D1010 “Western Campaigner”. The “Westerns” spent a decade at the head of the principal express trains of the Western Region until their early withdrawal as a non-standard type. They could also be seen hauling heavy freight trains. D1010 will join the “Hymeks” in making “Maybach Music” in the Quantock Hills, and along the Bristol Channel Coast.