EOR Steam Gala 2018: In Detail

EPPING ONGAR RAILWAY STEAM GALA 2018

On the 2nd weekend in June (Friday 8th - Sunday 10th), the Epping - Ongar Railway hosted their annual steam gala. This year, for the first time, there were 5 locomotives in steam - but what were they?

The Railway

To begin, here's a little bit about the railway itself. It's a preserved line - the longest in Essex - and is based at North Weald Station, with a 6-mile stretch of track reaching from their other station at Ongar to the site of Coopersale Halt, where there is currently no station.

The station building and platform at Ongar, albeit with something a little less steamy on the rails!

This means that they run heritage buses through from North Weald to Epping Stations on every operating day, with 339 services also reaching Ongar and Shenfield in the East during the high season (April - October). However, they do hope to reinstate the line through to Epping soon.

For now, this is as far as the branch goes - seen from the EOR's DMU

So now it's time for a quick bit of history. The GER (Great Eastern Railway) opened the single-track line from Epping through to Ongar in 1865 as an extension of the line from London, now part of the Underground's Central Line. The line stayed in this format with around 14 trains per day for a while. 1948 saw the Central Line officially operating as far as Loughton, so a steam train shuttle still ran between Loughton and Ongar. The next year saw a passing loop being installed at North Weald so that more trains could run and the London Transport Executive (LTE) took over the line through to Ongar, but this section wasn't electrified yet, so they had to hire in steam locos and carriages from BR's Eastern Region to run the shuttle service along the branch line.

North Weald Station in the present day, with functioning passing loop and signal box. This was taken at the Autumn Diesel Gala (my first visit for ages), so also without steam at the helm!

Then, in 1957, the decision was made to lightly electrify the line, allowing two 4-car trains to run at twenty minute intervals. About a decade later, the branch began to fall into decline. Late 1966 saw Blake Hall receive a reduced service, then North Weald lost its signal box and passing loop 10 years after that. In 1981, Blake Hall was closed completely (it is now a private residence) and trains beyond Epping ceased on 30th September 1994.

Blake Hall's now private residence viewed from a passing train

It was over a decade before passenger trains would run on the line again, when a DMU painted in EOR Blue would make 5 trips up and down between Ongar and North Weald every Sunday for around 3 years. Then, in 2007, the branch closed for a few years to enable extensive restoration work throughout - the stations were refurbished, the tracks were relaid and lots more work was undertaken to make the line what it is today.

The Gala

So, on to the gala itself. The passing loop at North Weald allowed a service to run at 50-minute intervals with two sets of coaches, as well as all services continuing into the Forest. Saturday Evening also saw one set of coaches running, mainly between North Weald and Ongar only, for the 'Real Ale Trains'. A brake van was also offering rides from North Weald to Coopersale every 50 minutes, in between the passenger service.

Coaches used were:
VAC 1: 3-coach set formed of 2 BR Maroon Mk1s and a BR 'Blood & Custard' Mk2

The 'VAC 1' set standing at Ongar, awaiting arrival of 813 to pick up the first service of the day.

VAC 2: 5-coach set formed of 3 BR Blue/Grey Mk2s, 1 BR Blue/Grey Mk1 and a BR Green vehicle from the Epping Ongar's DMU set.

The Locomotives

5 locomotives were in action at the event, as mention before, the largest amount in steam at the EOR so far. There were 2 visitors specifically for the gala (although one is still there currently), 2 long-term visitors and the EOR's only operational steam locomotive in action over the 3 days.

The short-term visitors

5197
The real star of the gala was 5197, the American S160 loco from the Churnet Valley Railway. This locomotive was built in the USA in 1945, then exported almost straight away to China. Now, I have no knowledge of Chinese railways so - even though I may be able to find information - I won't detail precise info here, but most of its life was spent working in the Chinese coal industry, before being saved for preservation and shipped back to the UK in 1995. Since then, this amazing loco has been based at both the Llangollen and Churnet Valley Railways, but has visited many more - this was its first trip to the Epping Ongar. 5197 operated on the front of 21 services throughout the gala, while also helping out by banking on 13 services into the Forest.

5197 stands at North Weald at the head of a service to Ongar, around lunchtime

813
Another guest that was announced only a few weeks before the gala (although that didn't stop it hauling 20 services over the three days and banking on another 17) was GW Saddle Tank number 813, which is usually based at the Severn Valley Railway. This is another loco that was predominantly used on coal trains; the Port Talbot Railway & Docks Company (PTR) introduced her to coal trains and colliery shunting in 1901, almost a year after Hudswell Clarke built 9 of the type for the PTR. GWR then took over the PTR in 1922, having had an affiliation with them for many years. 1933 saw the loco put up for sale by GWR, then bought by Backworth Collieries in Northumberland for shunting. Skip ahead 34 years and the loco was sold into preservation at the Severn Valley. After many years of stop-start steaming, 813 finally had a sustained period of operation from 2000 to 2009, but was taken out of service for 7 years, before re-entering service in late 2016. This was also this loco's first run on the EOR.

813 couples up to the VAC 1 set on a late afternoon service at Ongar.

The long-term visitors

Met 1
Obviously, Metropolitan E Class No.1 'Met 1' was in operation at the event. This locomotive has been visiting the EOR for a while now and hauls most of the regular steam services on the line, although this task is now shared with the other long-term visitor. Met 1 was built in around 1900 to a rather strange 0-4-4 wheel configuration. This particular locomotive was a replacement for an A Class that had an accident, so was numbered out of series - the other 6 were numbers 77 to 82. The locos ran on the primary Metropolitan Railway services, before being displaced to the Chesham branch and goods trains in around 1920. Under London Transport, Met 1 became L44 and became the last steam locomotive to haul a passenger service on the LT network. The mid-60s saw the loco move to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, where it is still based today. Met 1 is a very popular locomotive, being the main focus of many 'Steam on the Met' events and the 150th anniversary celebrations of the London Underground in 2013. 15 services across the gala were hauled by Met 1, with this magnificent loco banking on another 14.

Met 1 had to cover for Lord Phil in the morning, so retired earlier in the day than planned - this is at around 5:00pm, when the locomotive should've been operating a service into the Forest.

Lord Phil
The other (hoped to be) long-term visitor at the event was Hunslet Austerity 3883 'Lord Phil'. This locomotive only recently arrived at the railway and has been sharing passenger trains with Met 1 for the past month or so. This is not an uncommon type of loco - 485 of them were built for military/industrial use. Lord Phil was fitted with special equipment for Dynamometer Car trials, but this was obviously removed when the loco entered preservation. This locomotive proved to be popular at the gala, but failed on Saturday morning, returning to service at about 1:00pm. Amazingly, 3883 was supposed to haul the largest amount of services throughout the gala - Friday, Saturday and Sunday's Lord Phil-fronted trains amounted to 22, but only 12 needed its help with banking.

Lord Phil wasn't working for the whole morning, but eventually got enough 'oomph' to get going for services in the early afternoon.

The home loco

Isabel

Hawthorn Leslie Saddle Tank No.3437 is one of the lesser-known locos, but is the only working steam loco based at (and owned by) the Epping Ongar Railway! Built in 1919, this lovely little loco spent all of its working life at the dye plant in Blackley, Manchester, working for ICI foodstuffs. In preservation, 'Isabel' has changed hands a few times, its first home being the West Somerset Railway straight after withdrawal in 1969. Wales was the next port of call, with a few years at the Cambrian Railways site at Llynclys Junction before finally arriving at the EOR in 2012. A few peak services were hauled by 'Isabel' that year, but it was in a very poor state, so the decision was made to withdraw the locomotive from service before the boiler ticket expiry date. September 2017 saw its debut in a temporary black livery at last year's Steam Gala - having only been used once in that livery, maroon was the next colour for the loco and that's what it debuted at 2018's gala. 14 brake van rides operated over Saturday and Sunday, all with Isabel taking charge.

10:30 saw a gap in the services at North Weald, so Isabel had her 'time to shine' with a photoshoot!

The Buses

As always, the EOR had some of the London Bus Company's heritage buses out plying their trade, shuttling passengers back and forth between Ongar and North Weald, with sporadic extensions to Ongar and Shenfield Stations. You never know what's going to turn up, but there's usually a good mix of colours (2 green and 1 red or 2 red and 1 green) and types (RTs, RMs, RFs, RCLs). However, on this day, the line-up was entirely red and entirely RTs - albeit with a wider version too. They were:
RT3871

RT3871 in North Road, Brentwood while dead-running to Shenfield before taking up the 9:00 to Ongar

RT3933

RT3933 stands in North Weald Station Forecourt between North Weald - Epping shuttle runs

RTW75

RTW75 waits for departure time on a run from Ongar, Two Brewers to Epping Station.

The Reality

So, all the plans sounded great, but what actually happened? Well, it was one of the best galas I've been to, for sure. Apart from the odd mishap (one service didn't run into the Forest), everything worked well and connections to the buses were held. Something to be expected from heritage railways is late running and this event was no exception, with some trains reaching half an hour late (late running peaked around 3:00pm). As always, this got a few groans, but it was a great day on the whole. Below are some highlights from the day:

5197 stands at North Weald on the front of VAC 2, ready to work a service to Ongar

813 stands at North Weald on the front of VAC 1, ready to work a service to Ongar

Isabel stands at North Weald during the photoshoot, prior to working the first brake van service of the day

Met 1 stands at North Weald on the front of VAC1, ready to depart on a service to Ongar.

Thank you to the volunteers at the Epping Ongar for organising and executing a brilliant day out.

Happy travelling!