| Swanage Diesel Gala 2012 |

The 2012 Swanage Beer Festival + Diesel Gala.

Not a great start this year after the convoy bringing four visiting locos ran into difficulty when 33012 sent to collect them failed on Wednesday, and the following day stand-in loco 47375 also failed! The ensemble was dragged back to Kidderminster by 50049 and that was that, no further attempts were made to get them down to Purbeck, so Swanage had to do without.

Despite this the gala went ahead and ran relatively to time. A new timetable allowed this also offering additional services to/from Swanage.

Visiting locos included Class 27 no. D5401 fom the Northampton Type 2 Group, Class 50 no. 50026 'Indomitable' from Eastleigh works and Class 57 no. 57312 from Network Rail. Class 73 no. 73136 'Perseverance' also attended as a last minute standin, all working alonside resident Class 33 no. 33111.

Fine weather prevailed and made for a pleasant and varied couple of days photing, with the emphasis on Quality not Quantity! Nice to bump into some faces new and known, as well as a few Smotters and some Westbury Wombles.

Here's to next year!