One of the most anticipated dates in the event calendar. The Swanage Railway's 'Strictly Bulleid II' Gala over the weekend of the 7th-9th of June brought together the largest gathering of SR Bulleid Pacifics since the late 1960's.
The event set out to beat the lines previous record in 2017, where 5 Bulleid light pacific's gathered to commemorate 50 Years since the end of steam on the Southern Region. Seven years on, the line smashed this number by having eight working Bulleid's in action at the same time. With two West Country, two Merchant Navy's and four Battle of Britain classes, the stage was to be the event of the year.
Making it down for the final day of the gala, coverage in this video is of Sunday the 9th, which repeated the theme of the 2017 event by having all the loco's carry headboards on their duties.
0:00 34053 'Sir Keith Park'
3:35 34028 'Eddystone'
6:36 34070 'Manston'
7:48 34072 '257 Squadron'
14:05 34081 '92 Squadron'
14:55 35018 'British India Line'
16:53 34092' City of Wells'
21:13 35006 'Peninsular & Oriental S. N.Co.'
As all events, their were trials to over come. 34081 sadly encountered super heater issues on Saturday morning, and subsequently was not able to run on the Sunday. However, the rest of the cast were in fine song on a fantastic day of weather. Full credit goes to the Swanage Railway for putting on a fine show and over coming so much to make the event possible. Hope you enjoy!
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