After two years since our last visit to the West Somerset Railway, we made a great return to the railway along the English coast in 2024, where the railway's annual 'Summer Diesel Gala' event was in full swing, running diesel locomotives from Thursday 6th June to Saturday 8th June, 2024.
We visited the railway on the Friday and Saturday of the event, where we had filmed a total of nine out of eleven diesel locos, both home fleet and gala guests.
The guest engines for this year were four locomotives that are based on the Severn Valley Railway, which included 46045, 50033, 20142 & 20189, while a GWR HST Castle Class set was featured on the Saturday and Sunday of the event, running two round trips on the former day, and one on the latter day.
Finally, Class 24 D5054 (24054) was visiting from the East Lancashire Railway.
The home fleet included Class 35 D7017, Class 33 D6566 (33048), Class 14 D9256 and the three-car Class 115 DMU set was out, albeit, not in working operation and instead being used as a three car passenger set being loco-hauled, as the unit was unable to be fixed in time for the event.
Overall, we had a lovely time filming the diesel gala event over the two days we spent on the West Somerset Railway, and the weather was just right for what we needed for our latest heritage railway film.
Filmed on both:
Friday 7th June, 2024
Saturday 8th June, 2024
Filmed at Stations
Bishops Lydeard
Williton
Watchet
Minehead
Crowcombe Heathfield
Blue Anchor
Filmed by
Thomas Coombes
Scott Coombes
Produced by
Thomas Coombes
(C) 2024 Marches Productions