Bluebell Railway Giants of Steam Gala 2026

17/10/2026 This is the Bluebell Railway, this time to see a locomotive I've never seen operating before, 71000 'Duke of Gloucester'. I've not had the best luck with this one, I've seen it, bit never working, despite it doing railtour so near to me, I never see a single one! It took this gala for me to finally see it, and its a beautiful locomotive! In operation were; Home Fleet: . BR 4MT Tank No. 80151 (Turned to face North) . BR 5MT No. 73082 'Camelot' . SR Battle of Britain No. 34059 'Sir Archibald Sinclair' Guest Locomotives: . BR 7P No. 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' (Courtesy of Locomotive Services Limited) . LMS 2MT Tank No. 41313 (Courtesy of Isle of Wight Railway) . BR 9F No. 92134 (Courtesy of North Yorkshire Moors Railway) (Running with 92240s tender) Whilst 71000 was by far the stand out guest locomotive, I was also looking forward to seeing the Ivatt Tank 41313, which has followed us from Mid Hants, those who know me well, will know how much I love the Ivatt Tank, so this was a no brainer! Another locomotive, which we would later, by process of elimination, realise we had also never seen running before was 92134, apparently in its final year of its ticket? I'm starting to like 92240s tender behind it! I was a bit miffed at the lack lustre performance for two of the runs we witnessed, seemingly taking it steady by going very slow, was a shame too that the freight train wasn't running, seemed odd not to take advantage of the 9F whilst I was here (I am aware it did one the week prior). The performance with 73082 was much better, and was seemingly pushing Camelot along! Much like the Ivatt, we will have this follow us to the upcoming Chinnor Railway Gala we plan to attend! Said it before and I'll say it again, Duke of Gloucester is a beauty and that whistle is just so nice to listen to! It's a credit to LSL, and I hope to finally see it at speed on the mainline at some point! We managed to make it to the photoshoot this time after missing the New Builds one, however with the position of the sun, and the size of the crowd, getting good shots were difficult but we managed! It was nice to see the lineup though and I am glad they put them in order of power classification. The 9F couldn't seem to make its mind up where to stay!