In what was agreed to be the best gala at Bedfordshire’s Leighton Buzzard Railway for many years, over 600 people attended the railway’s Autumn Gala over the weekend of Saturday, 6th and Sunday, 7th September.

Designed to be part of Railway 200, trains ran over the full length of the line, including the recently opened extension to Munday’s Hill.

During their journey, the trains passed steam-hauled sand and military freight trains along the way.

Along with five locomotives from the home fleet in steam, there were three visiting engines including: Taffy from Alan Keef Ltd at Ross on Wye, which is a replica of a De Winton vertical boiler tank locomotive similar to the Leighton Buzzard Railway’s own locomotive Chaloner, Kerr Stuart locomotive Diana dating from 1909, which is near the end of its current boiler ticket and was on a farewell tour; and newly painted in green livery Hudswell Clarke G class No. 1238 from the Moseley Railway Trust at Apedale.

In July, Chaloner was at the Severn Valley Railway, starring in its ‘Through The Ages’ Event.

Throughout the weekend, eight steam locomotives operated an intensive timetable, sometimes with double- and even triple-headed trains.

Of particular interest was Hudswell Clarke G class No. 1238 hauling a train of loaded sand skips, which authentically replicated what would have been seen on the line over a century ago, as it is the same type of loco used when the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway opened in 1919.

On Saturday evening, ‘The Smallest Gathering’ was a tongue-in-cheek homage to August’s ‘Greatest Gathering’ event in Derby. This event featured Baldwin 10-12-D Class No. 778 and the Hudswell Clarke G class pulling sand skips in and out of the platform for photo opportunities, and Chaloner, Doll, Gertrude, and Diana posing outside the engine shed.

Besides the mainline train services, many other steam and diesel locomotives were on view, including: Baguely Cars Ltd Rishra built in 1921, the last surviving locomotive of its type and originally used to shunt coal wagons at a water pumping station in Barrackpore, India, for the Calcutta Corporation, and Sezela No. 4, built by Avonside in 1915 and originally used at the Sezela Sugar Estates in South Africa. Both these locomotives attended the 150-year celebrations at Shildon in 1975.

A large selection of diesel and petrol locomotives was also on display at the railway’s northern terminus at Stonehenge Works, including armoured Motor Rail Simplex no. 2182, and were running on the double track alongside the passenger trains.

During the weekend before the Gala, over 600 visitors met children’s character Bluey, with extra carriages being added to trains to accommodate everyone.