I can't remember much about the gala, and judging by the pictures the Saturday was a sunny day whilst the heavens opened on the Sunday.

Despite that, there's some nice pictures, including the "Adams Radial" in action.  The hasn't happened since 1990.  The loco is also unusually in BR black - a livery it's only carried at the Bluebell Railway for a very short period of time.

The "Adams Radial" is a nice looking engine.  Shame that it requires major boiler work if it's ever going to return to traffic again.

Designed for the LSWR's inner suburban network, these locomotives were displaced by electrification, and the entire class were scrapped by 1927 with the exception of two which were retained to operate the Lyme Regis branch, where sharp curvature made the use of anything other than this class of loco impossible.

Many other classes were tried, but they either couldn't cope with the heavy loaded holiday trains, or were too inflexible for the many curves.

This particular loco though had been sold to the military during the first World War, and in 1919 was sold on to the privately run East Kent Railway. In 1946 it was bought by the Southern and overhauled to provide relief for the other two Lyme Regis engines, and the three operated the branch until 1960.

No.488 was chosen by the Bluebell since, out of the three, it was closest to original condition at the time of withdrawal, having an original Adams boiler.

Check out all my pictures of the Bluebell Railway.