East Lancashire Railway Autumn Steam Gala 2026

East Lancashire Railway Autumn Steam Gala 2026 Friday 16th to Sunday 20th October 2026 Nine locomotives were in steam over the East Lancashire Railway's Autumn Steam Gala. Visiting locomotives this year were South Eastern & Chatham Railway Class O1 Number 65 from the Bluebell Railway, LSWR Urie S15 4-6-0 30506 from the Mid Hants Railways and GWR Pannier Tank 7714 from the Severn Valley Railway. The event started off with freshly repainted L&Y Saddletank 752 with an early morning train to Rawtenstall, calling at Burrs to drop visitors off to watch a series of run pasts performed by southbound facing visiting GWR Pannier Tank 7714. SECR number 65 was partnered with the lines 4 coach rake of Blood and Custard Mark Is and looked a splendid sight steaming through the autumnal sunshine and partnered up at times with the L&Y locos 1300 and 752, both of which are freshly outshopped in Lancashire & Yorkshire livery (1300 raising steam on C&W while its paint job was finished on Thursday afternoon/evening!) The Urie was out all weekend and had a trip each day partnered with Bulleid 4-6-2 34092 City of Wells. On Friday Pug 11243 joined the fun and banking a trip to Ramsbottom with Hudswell Clarke 1208 'Illingworth' / 'Mitchell' / 'Harold' (the loco has carried many names and ran as Harold on Friday and Illingworth / Mitchell on Friday). 1208 ran two shuttle workings on Friday out of Bury and an early morning trip on Sunday morning. Goods trains were out on all three days, with 65 taking a late evening trip to Rawtenstall on Saturday, while 752 and 1300 are also seen on goods train duties on Saturday afternoon. BR Standard 4MT 80097 completed the line up featuring on the Saturday only. www.preservedrailway.co.uk (C) Lee Andrew Davies 2025