Here is the delayed report on the north norfolk railway's steam gala in 2013
In the build up to this event, it suffered from several locomotive withdrawals, then on the second day of the gala, Saturday 9th March, a low speed accident occured between 70000 Britannia and 78019, which resulted in both locomotives being withdrawn from the gala, however a replacement locomotive was sourced in the form of 4953 Pitchford Hall.
I visited the railway on Saturday 16th March 2013.
As I arrived at Holt, 4953 was running round to double head with prairie tank no 4141 non-stop to sheringham.
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| 4953 seen running round at Holt. |
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When I arrived at Sheringham, I took some photo's of both loco's together,
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| 4953 and 4141 at Sherringham |
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Next, I crossed over to Platform 2 and boarded the Quad-Art's to Weybourne behind 80072, here it waited to pass two trains, the first train was hauled by Black Prince to Weybourne where the J15 was attached and double headed to Sheringham.
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| 80072 is seen with the rear coach of the Sheringham train in the other platform. |
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| 80072 Seen poking out under the bridge at Weybourne |
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| 80072 seen at Weybourne from the opposite platform |
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| The train is seen at Weybourne from the footbridge |
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I then boarded the Class 31 Diesel D5631 at Weybourne to Sheringham, The J15 then took the train in the opposite platform out, the diesel was detached and Black Prince ran round the train to take it to Holt.
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| The J15, taken through the window from the other Train. |
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| Black Prince waiting patiently in the platform to run round, while the diesel is detached. |
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| Black Prince Runs Round. |
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At Weybourne, we stayed on the train which passed 4141 running southbound.
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| 4141 leaves a nice trail of exhaust as it enters Weybourne |
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| The Tokens are exchanged between signalmen and Crew. |
We then continued on to Holt, where we took a look around the Museum, and the Model railway.
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| Wissington was about hauling the goods train. |
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| Black Prince stands at Holt after a good run from Sheringham |
We then got back on board the train back to Weybourne with Black Prince in charge. We left the train at weybourne, and then changed onto 80072's train to Holt.
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| Black Prince waits for the arrival of 80072. |
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| 80072 pulls into the platform at Weybourne |
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| The Two engines pass. |
On arrival at Holt, the J15 was noted in the other platform ready to depart, and the Class 31 Diesel was run onto the train ready to haul it down to Sheringham.
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| The Class 31 Running onto the train |
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| The J15 departs. |
I then took the Diesel's train as far as Weybourne where I disembarked and waited for Wissington to come through with the goods, Black Prince was hauling the train scheduled to pass both the diesel and the Goods Here.
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| Black Prince Storms past the Home Signal |
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| Black Prince Slowing down to Enter Weybourne |
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| Black Prince is framed nicely by the bridge at weybourne |
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| Wissington Arrives from Holt with the goods. |
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| Wissington is seen through Black Prince's Steam. |
Once I had photographed the freight, I crossed the footbridge and boarded Black Prince's Train back to Holt. On arrival at Holt, Pitchford Hall was ready to depart, having relieved 4141 off it's train, once this had left, 4141 ran round, and went to hook onto the train, meanwhile, Black Prince had been uncoupled and was also running round resulting in the two loco's passing each other while running round.
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| 4141 in Platform 1 at Holt. |
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| 4141 Runs towards it carriages in Platform 2 |
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| Little and Large, Black Prince and 4141 pass each other while running round. |
Once 4141 was hooked onto its train, I took it as far as Weybourne, where I boarded the J15 (Which had run E.C.S. with the Quads from sheringham earlier) , which I took from Weybourne to Holt, Holt to Sheringham and then Sheringham to Holt on the last train of the day.
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| The J15 runs out of the headshunt at Weybourne. |
I stayed on board at Holt, and Weybourne, and got out to stretch my legs at Sheringham, I then went and photographed Black Prince leaving, to save paths, 4953 Pitchford Hall was hitching a ride on the back of this back to the Shed at Weybourne.
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| Black Prince Ready to Depart |
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| Black Prince Lets of steam just before departure. |
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| Black Prince Departs Sheringham With lots of Smoke. |
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| Lots of steam as it slowly builds up speed as it departs |
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| Steam and Smoke goes everywhere as it heads underneath the Road Bridge. |
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| Pitchford Hall on the back of the train. |
I then boarded the J15 for the run back to Holt, including a quick stop at weybourne where they cleared us out the way quickly so that everyone could get home, finally we arrived at Holt just as it began to get dark, and managed a decent dark shot of the J15 which I will leave you with.
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| The J15 runs around at Holt before doing some ECS moving ready for the next days gala. |
