Diesel Gala 2004

         ( page 1 of 1 on this gala)

Class 31 108 + GBRF Class 66709 + D306 + EW&S Class 56057

 Class 31 108 at Orton Mere station on the Nene Valley railway in 2004

 Class 31 108  comes into Orton Mere in 2004 with the Mark ones.

 GBRF Class 66709 at Orton Mere station on the Nene Valley railway in 2004

This GBRf Class 66 66709 was named "Joseph Arnold Davies" and was in Medite livery on this visit to the Nene Valley.  This locomotive was named after the father of Medite’s Chairman and Managing Director, Roy Davies.

GBRf class 66709 is now painted in the MSC Sorrento promotional livery.

 Close up of name plate on Class 66709 Joseph Arnold Davies in 2004 at the NVR.

Class 40 D306

D 306 comes under the Park-way road bridge at Orton Mere on the same day in 2004

 EW&S Class 56057 into Orton Mere station on the Nene Valley Railway in 2004

 Class 56057 at Orton Mere station on the Nene Valley Railway

EW&S Class 56057 "British Fuels" at Orton Mere station on the Nene Valley Railway in 2004 in the condition as it came on to the railway. This class 56 was at the Nene Valley between 2004 and 2007

 Class 56057 still in its EW&S colours at Orton Mere in 2004 

Next Page is Eary days at the NVR

Diesel Gala's

When it became clear that steam was to be finished in 1968 all the focus was on saving steam engines. When all the steam engines had been saved from being cut up (some are still in the state that they were saved in) It also became clear that you also needed wagons and carriages as well to run a railway.

All the thousands of short wheel base and un fitted wagons have now gone from the mainline railway, of these just a small number have been saved.

A lot of the first generation diesels have now gone as well. Some of these have also now needed to be saved. A lot of the younger generation have not seen steam, apart from on lines like the Nene Valley, and on the odd, Mainline steam train.

With so many Diesels locomotives on lines up and down the Uk, the Diesel only day started to let the "Diesel Buff", have their own day, with no steam engines or (Kettle's as they call them).

The first Diesel days (weekends) were put at the very start and end of the year and numbers of people who went to them was poor.

The Heritage railways were for steam. You could still ride on the main line in mark ones, on ever day trains, behind engines like class 47s till the early 2000s. Today (2010) you can count on one hand, every day passenger trains with class 47s and the like.

But then as visiting engines were added to Diesel Days from other heritage railways and BR, the numbers of people going got more. With todays all new railway, the mixture as got even wider. The trains are often now full and are bringing in a far younger train buff who can only reminder back to BR Blue with Large Arrows. Some do not even remeber BR.

With Central WAGN MML Virgin Cross Country and GNER all now gone, the young school children of today, will soon be repainting HSTs in GNER colours, in years to come, to run on the NVR!

Next Page is Eary days at the NVR