Special Events Planning team announce two class 20 Diesels for this years Diesel Gala

The WSR Special Events Planning Team are pleased to announce that we have now agreed to the hire of two Class 20 diesels from the Severn Valley Railway to take part in our Diesel Gala and Rail Ale Trail on 9^th – 11^th June 2017.

Nos. D8059 & D8188 (20059 & 20188 in TOPS days) both currently in BR Green livery. No. D8059 was built by Robert Stephenson Hawthorn at Darlington in 1961 and D8188 at English Electrics Vulcan Foundry in 1967. 2017 marks the 60^th anniversary of the first of the class entering service so it is particularly pleasing to see the locos on the WSR this year. It is planned to run the two locos together nose to nose as the class so often ran in BR service. We are grateful to the owner David Coombes of Somerset & Dorset Locomotive Company for the loan of the locos for our event. They are expected to be moved by rail by our friends at GB Railfreight.

This will bring the diesel loco fleet for the gala to 7 locos, home based class 33 D6575, Class 35 Hymek D7017, Class 47 D1661 & Class 52 Western D1010 Western Campaigner plus visitors Class 26 D5343 from the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway and the two class 20’s above. It is also possible that HymekD7018 will venture out during the gala as a pilot loco after its long repair, but this will not be known for sure until day.

It is perhaps interesting to note that the two class 20’s are the 6^th pair of locos of the same type to work on the WSR in 2017, with 2 x 4F’s (43924 & 44422), 2 x 7F’s (53808 & 53809), 2 Manor’s (7820 & 7822), 2 x Hymeks (D7017 & D7018), 2 x Class 33’s D6566 & D6575 plus the 20’s. The year of the pairs it seems