Severn Valley Railway - 'Autumn Steam Gala' 18-20/09/2026

The colours in the trees show the undeniable onset of autumnal weather, as the Severn Valley Railway held their annual ‘Autumn Steam Gala’ with a fleet of 10 locomotives in action; held over the weekend of September 17th-20th. The event featured four headline guests, in the shape of ‘Pannier Tank’ - 9681 from the Dean Forest Railway, 41313 from the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, 3850 from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, and 46115 “Scots Guardsman” courtesy of West Coast Railways. The latter pair were last-minute substitutes for ‘Small Prairie’ - 5526 and 4MT Tank - 80097, which became unavailable. Aside from the visitors, there was some deserved hype concerning the home-fleet operating at the event. 'Large Prairie' - 4150 only recently returned to steam following its lengthy restoration from scrapyard condition, becoming the 154th ex-Woodhams Scrapyard locomotive to steam in preservation, with this event serving as its gala debut. There hadn’t been sufficient time to fully paint the locomotive before its launch, as such it bears a SVR version of the GWR shirt-button logo as a temporary finish. With Stanier mogul - 13268 set for a triumphant return to the mainline, the event allowed a chance to catch the locomotive in a slightly more sedate setting ahead of its reacquaintance with mainline metals. On the other end of the scale, ‘Pannier Tank’ - 7714 is entering the swansong of its current boiler ticket, with the 2026 edition of this event set to be 7714s last before overhaul. 813 is now back in its familiar Great Western livery, while stalwarts 75069 and 1450 would complete the line-up. The visit of 9681 provided the opportunity to feature a pair of BR black ‘Pannier Tanks’ operating over SVR metals, including a special recreation of the final steam-hauled BR service to leave Bridgnorth. On the 8th of September 1963, 9624 and 4665 departed Bridgnorth with the 18.58 service to Birmingham Snow Hill, hauling what was thought to be the final time steam would be heard in the valleys along the River Severn; thankfully, the absence was short-lived. 9681 and 7714 played the rolls of their 1963 counterparts, hauling a special commemorative service complete with a replica of the original headboard, on the Friday of the event. In a similar vein, the Sunday of the event saw a recreation of ‘The East Devon’ railtours, which ran on the 28th of February and the 7th of March 1965. The tours featured legs hauled by double-header of a ‘Pannier Tank’ (4666) and an Ivatt 2MT Tank (41291 and 41206 respectively). For the recreation, 41313 and 9681 held the honours, complete with a LCGB headboard. 00:00 - 4150 Kidderminster 00:49 - 4150 Northwood Lane 02:08 - 4150 Eardington Bank 03:21 - 46115 Eardington Bank 04:29 - 1450 Eardington 06:26 - 1450 Eardington Bank 07:31 - 13268 Foley Park 08:32 - 13268 Falling Sands Viaduct 09:28 - 46115 Northwood Lane 10:45 - 3850 Northwood Lane 12:06 - 3850 Highley foot crossing 13:44 - 813 Arley 15:58 - 7714 Northwood 17:17 - 813 Northwood Lane 18:12 - 3850 Tenbury Wall 19:19 - 3850 Eardington Bank 21:03 - 41313 & 9681 Foley Park 22:48 - 1450 Foley Park 25:03 - 1450 Falling Sands Viaduct 25:31 - 41313 Northwood Lane 26:45 - 41313 Arley 28:32 - 4150 Victoria Bridge 30:13 - 9681 & 7714 Foley Park 32:06 - 7714 & 9681 Eardington Bank 33:38 - 75069 Eardington Bank 34:59 - 46115 Northwood Lane 36:27 - 46115 Eardington Bank 37:49 - 9681 Tenbury Wall 38:39 - 41313 Tenbury Wall 39:29 - 46115 Tenbury Wall 40:32 - 46115 Eardington Bank 42:01 - 3850 Foley Park 44:39 - 13268 Foley Park 47:07 - 46115 Eardington Locomotives: GWR 5101 'Large Prairie' Class - 4150 Ex-LMS Rebuilt 'Royal Scot' Class - 46115 "Scots Guardsman" Ex-GWR 1400 Class - 1450 LMS Class 5 - 13268 GWR 2884 Class - 3850 Ex-PTR Saddle Tank - 813 Ex-GWR 5700 'Pannier Tank' Class - 7714 BR(M) Class 2MT Tank - 41313 Ex-GWR 5700 'Pannier Tank' Class - 9681 BR Standard Class 4MT - 75069 Footnote: Attending three days of the event resulted in an eclectic mix of raw clips to work with, featuring the various locomotives on differing coach sets in diverse weather over the whole event. As such, this video is a scratch-build version of events, to try and convey coherent coverage of the gala. This does mean that there are some obvious differences in coach sets and other minor details between sequences. A thank you must be given to the SVR volunteers, especially those at Eardington station, for their support in making this video. And a further thanks to ‪@BrickishRail‬, for their support. All footage filmed on Friday the 18th, Saturday the 19th, and Sunday the 20th of September 2026.