In order to honour Railway 200 (celebrating 200 years since the first ever railway service), a weekend of of train stuff was held at the Alstom works in Derby. Why “The Greatest Gathering”? Well it was exactly that…the greatest gathering of all things railways!
Volunteering
I had wanted to attend this event but the tickets sold out so quickly! I want to say a matter of minutes but it might’ve been a matter of hours. Ah but then I heard that the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways were sending an engine and naturally I volunteered to tag along.
(So not only was I able to attend the event but I got to go for freeeee! There are benefits to being a volunteer I tell you!).
Anyway I digress! Prince was in attendance with some heritage stock. It was chuffing along a section of track providing steam train rides to attendees.
Excitement Levels: HIGH!
Of course being the trainspotter* that I am, my excitement levels were high… ok that’s an understatement, it was sky high!
And it didn’t disappoint!
(* and proudly so!)
Exhibitions
I say exhibitions to cover the locomotives et al. There were loads of locomotives. My favourite was of course the Flying Scotsman because well it’s iconic isn’t it? It was missing on Saturday as it was on a railtour but it came back for Sunday where I saw it with Sir Nigel Gresley a Blue Peter. Stunning. Absolutely stunning!
But also I really loved seeing Princess Margaret Rose. This locomotive has a fascinating history. It was built by Crewe Works in 1935 and ran until 1962. Post Barry Scrapyard it was bought by Billy Butlin and moved to Butlins in Pwllheli where it was a static exhibit until 1972. Yes it had been moved before I was born but even so I would’ve loved to see it there. But it doesn’t matter I got to see it now! Unfortunately I didn’t get a great photo of the whole engine as it was tucked away in the shed. However I did meet the some of the folk that look after her and I bought a book written by the President of the Princess Royal Class Loco Trust, Mr Brell Ewart (who also signed it for me!).
Stalls
As well as the impressive locomotives there was also loads of stalls. I didn’t get much chance to visit all of them but I did visit a few. Got chatting to some of the folks at the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway stall (which I’ve recently visited), popped in to say hi to Michael and Victoria at the RailAdvent stand, and according to my friend got talking to some random people… apparently I’m a nightmare to go around with! Also popped into the STEM section and got talking to someone at the HS2 stand. I also got to attend a VR session about the soundproofing on the HS2 development. Also picked up some brochures to learn more about it… see my previous post about my thoughts about the HS2 project.
Celebrity Spotting
Of course as this was the epitome of railway gatherings (it was dubbed the “Glastonbury of Railways” and quite frankly I’d rather this than Glastonbury!), there were a number of celebrities in attendance. Pete Waterman was there with a model railway layout. I also heard that Michael Portillo was about. Also Francis thingymajig was there filming with Chris Harris. Didn’t go chasing them down although my friend did have a photo with Chris Harris. But of course I met up with my favourite celebrity railway person Mr Tim Dunn and had the privilege of watching him name a miniature engine – the first one to be named at Derby Litchurch Lane Works in decades (if I understood Tim correctly). It was great seeing him again but no silly selfie this time!
Really Cool People
Let’s be honest though, it’s not the celebs that make these things great… it’s the all the people who make it happen. A massive shoutout to the folks at Alstom who managed to get this gathering together. It must’ve been a logistical nightmare! My thanks also go out to the team at the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways who made this happen for me. Everyone was fantastic!
And last but certainly not least, thanks to all the people I’ve been talking to online who stopped to say hello to me – I finally got to meet Andy from Smog on the Line! Also saw some of the Train TikTokkers again – Kev a Alfie, Andy Miller a Matty (thank you for the footplate trip!).
As I say, really cool people! And a really awesome weekend!
