Great Central Railway Winter Steam Gala 2010:- Post One:- Friday Evening...

Hi all! Tonight, to begin the festivities of the Great Central Railway's Winter Steam Gala 2010, we made our way over to Loughborough for the Friday evening open night at the engine sheds. Though three locomotives had been running in the day-time, the sheds were open from 5pm-8pm so that visitors could see the rest of the engines being prepared for the following two days, when a total of 8 would be in action! After making my way down the desolate platforms I crossed the tracks to access the pathway to the sheds. (In the next post, I will describe the gala in full). The first engine spotted was No42968, the unqiue Stanier Mogul that was visiting from the SVR at Kidderminster. She was backing down the sheds for servicing and was due to head a Dining Train at 7:30pm, double-heading with visiting Jubilee class '5XP' "Leander". Nearer the sheds, I was a little surprised to find that three of the bigger engines had been shunted down a dark siding, opposite the platforms where photography and even video was almost impossible...though we all had a go! In the shed yard, I managed to capture a nice shot of 8F No48305 (renumbered for the gala), simmering outside the loco works. (This shot is shown above). Below, the desolate Loughborough platforms can be seen, echoing a 1960's atmosphere...

After a look round inside the sheds, spotting Black 5 No45305, still without a boiler and sitting on jacks(!), as well as No30777 "Sir Lamiel", ROD No63601 and N2 No1744, I found the prime location of the evening, sporting 42968. The Mogul stood on No2 Road and was looking very tidy, illuminated by the somewhat strong yard lights near Empress Road Bridge. She sported a single lamp on the centre-bracket at either end..."Light Engine"...and was being readied to "move off" again. The best shot of her that I captured is spotted below...

I must admit, even with the floodlights, you could not prevent shots from blurring without using a tri-pod, as I have in all my images. Handheld shots proved useless in this light. Though some engines were out of sight, one must keep in mind that this is not a "staged photography session", it is simply a normal evening of engines being prepared, except that public are allowed to attend! I must admit, for free, though it was blisteringly cold, it was very much worth going and, with all engines in BR Black, it really echoed signs of the early 1960's! I also took my video camera along to capture the goings-on. The resulting video is spotted below...

As you will see in the video, it was a very atmospheric scene! Tomorrow I am off to the gala itself, after staying over in Rothley, right next to the GCR station! After seeing 42968 & 5690 together in the platform ready to depart, I myself did so to! The cold got the better of me by 7:15pm...it was freezing! Thanks for Reading folks. Like what you see? Why not comment?! I love to hear from readers! Evening All...