West Somerset Railway Gala dates 2026

We are pleased to be able to announce and confirm our gala event dates for the 2026 season, the WSR’s 50^th year.

The Railway's Gala Planning Team has decided that the overall theme for our 2026 enthusiast events will be ‘WSR 50’, to celebrate the 50^th anniversary since the reopening of the railway between Minehead and Blue Anchor in March 1976, and Williton later that year.

Our first event will be to mark the actual anniversary of reopening on 28^th & 29^th March 2026.

This will be followed by our annual “Spring Steam Spectacular” between Friday 1^st and Monday 4^th May 2026. Expect several visiting locomotives, our home based loco fleet, an intensive timetable and lots of other attractions for a weekend of steam action. It is planned to bring in guest locomotives that were regular performers on the WSR over the years, or locomotives of the same type where the exact locomotive is no longer available.

Our annual “Summer Diesel Festival” will be held between Thursday 4^th & Saturday 6^th June 2026, plus a mixed traction day on Sunday 7^th June. We will again mark the WSR’s 50^th year with several visiting diesel locomotives to join members of the home based DEPG (Diesel & Electric Preservation Group) fleet. As usual an intensive timetable and additional attractions will take place throughout the weekend.

Full details of visiting locomotives, timetables, additional attractions, fares and ticket availability will be announced as soon as possible. Please keep an eye on this website and our social media pages for news updates.

We are also working on further events for later in the season and the dates for these will be announced in due course when plans are finalised.

We look forward to welcoming you to the WSR in 2026.