WSR Autumn Steam Gala 2025

So after a break of 6 years it was back to the West Somerset Railway (WSR) for a steam gala! The WSR is my favourite heritage line “so why the long break?” might you ask…. well the start of the interruption to my visits was Covid and Lockdown followed by changes in my own circumstances, the biggest of which was preparing for retirement from, what was, the day job.

There was no particular theme for this gala but there was an excellent collection of locos, both visiting and home fleet. For many I’m sure that the T3 would have been the star of the show, certainly this seemed to be the case judging by the camera wielding crowds that gathered whenever it appeared.

In addition to the trains running on the line there was plenty of interest at the gala, including:

  • shunting and turntable demonstrations at Minehead Station
  • breakfast on board specified trains
  • Taunton Model Railway Group open days at Bishops Lydeard with a fantastic layout based on bath Green Park
  • a number of museums open at the stations, including Bishops Lydeard, Blue Anchor and Washford
  • various stalls along the line selling railway related book, models and collectibles, including Rod’s Models at Wiliton where I came away with a number of excellent models at very reasonable prices.

The locomotives

The locomotives listed below were in action at the gala:

  1. GWR Castle Class 4-6-0 No. 5029 ‘Nunney Castle’ (visitor)
  2. LSWR T3 Class 4-04-0 No. 563 (visitor)
  3. PTR 0-6-0ST No. 813 as NCB No. 11 (visitor)
  4. Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 1219 ‘Caledonia Works’ (visitor)
  5. BR(W) 78XX Manor 4-6-0 No. 7828 ‘Odney Manor’ (home)
  6. WSR Mogul 2-6-0 No. 9351 (home)
  7. Class 33 Diesel No. D6575 (home)

The locations

The West Somerset Railway features so many great photographic locations, many of them easily accessible. Those listed below are some of my favourites but even with a 3 day the gala there was still not enough time to visit all of the places I would have liked. Two particular locations I would recommend, not featured here, are Stogumber station and the high embankments West of Watchet Station and North of the line.  My West Somerset Railway 2017 Spring Gala report features Stogomber station for those with an particular interest in this location.

  1. Minehead station platform
  2. Crowcombe Heathfield station car park
  3. Crowcombe Heathfield station platform
  4. Crowcombe Heathfield rise at end of Platform 2
  5. Bishops Lydeard station platform
  6. public crossing in field outside Minehead station SS 462978
  7. Wiliton station platform 2
  8. Minehead footpath next to station throat near Morrisons supermarket car park
  9. Norton Fitzwarren turning triangle (only accessible by train at the time of writing).

A word about the images

I certainly don’t consider myself as a professional photographer and don’t have professional camera kit. Almost all of the photographs on this page were taken with a Cannon 90D SLR using a Cannon 18-135mm EFS lens. The photograph taken by the camera is often just a starting point for the image that I will make using Photoshop. Where possible I try to tell a snippet of a story from each image,  for example I have made some images black and white and applied a tint looking for a period feel.

 And so now, finally, on to the images…

The locomotives and trains

As usual captions are minimal giving just a location number and the name /  running number and class of the locomotive.

The stations

The WSR has 10 stations plus one request halt at Doniford. All of the stations are splendidly restored and presented and many of them have their own attractions to explore, usually a museum or a restoration yard / shed. All, excepting Doniford halt, have facilities for refreshments ranging from drinks and snacks to more substantial sustenance such as pasties, sausage rolls and sandwiches.

Photographic opportunities abound and great locations seem to increase each time I visit the latest being the cattle dock at Stogumber. Below are a few ‘snaps’ of the stations to give those unfamiliar with the railway a feel for what they would experience on a visit. I should add that for those coming by car plentiful car parking is available at each terminus in Minehead and Bishops Lydeard. The car parking in Minehead is not owned by the railway and a fee is payable, for a whole day this is £7 (correct at time of writing in October 2025).

Video

i occasionally like to make short snips of video to catch the trains and locomotives in action, below are 3 short clips. While my stills camera is quite respectable and capable of taking reasonable images my video camera is a much less professional affair being a Sony HandyCam, I also took this footage without the aid of a tripod simply because it is a trifle cumbersome to carry around the gala.

Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST No. 563 during a shunting demonstration at Minehead station.

BR(W) 78XX Manor 4-6-0 No. 7828 ‘Odney Manor’ leaving Crowcombe Heathefield with the 16:23 to Minehead

Class 33 Diesel No. D6575 in charge of the 13:54 to Minehead leaves Crowcombe Heathfield.

Model railway

The “Bath Green Park” model railway is located at Bishops Lydeard station and is operated by the Taunton Model Railway Group.   The layout is an 00 gauge model of the old Bath Green Park station and the surrounding railway, depicting the area in the 1950s and 60s. The group occasionally opens the layout for public viewing which usually includes special event days..

At present some areas of the railway are undergoing rebuilds, regardless it is a most impressive model and, during my visit, ran faultlessly. The few ‘snaps’ I have were taken on my mobile phone as was the video.

And finally…

So that was the West Somerset Railway Autumn Gala 2025 and what a splendid event it was for my ‘return’ after a long break. While there was not a particular theme there was an excellent and varied selection of locomotives running and judging from the conversations I overheard this view was held by many visitors.

Did I have a favourite locomotive… well no not really, I just loved seeing them all in action with such great opportunities to capture the image. Could I suggest any improvements for gala events to the WSR… yes just one thing, please can we have a return to the event booklet of previous galas containing details of the locomotives running, the timetables and other interesting articles.

Roll on 2026 and, I hope, a Spring gala!!