Eastleigh Lakeside Railway '30th ANNIVERSARY GALA' - September 2022

First of all...this is a long video, so feel free to watch it in segments if that's easier.

In 1992, a small miniature railway was set-up in the Lakeside Country Park on the outskirts of Eastleigh near to Southampton Airport. This became the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway - and 30 years later, it has grown into one of the country's main miniature railway attractions to a large 1-1/4 mile long circuit and becoming home to up to around twenty-five Steam, Diesel and Electric Locomotives including a Eurostar built by the University of Southampton and six of H.C.S. Bullock's magnificent 'Pacific' locomotives.

Over the weekend of Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th September 2022 the railway celebrated its 30th Anniversary with a Gala event featuring the original five locomotives that ran when it was just 7-1/4 inch gauge and also featuring the first 10-1/4 inch gauge loco that got the railway changed to dual-gauge and finally a visiting locomotive from the Moors Valley Railway.

The seven locomotives in use were as follows...
- ELR 'Maxi-Lucky-Seven'-class 2-4-2 No.7 "Sandy River"
- ELR 'Atlantic' 4-4-2 No.4789 "William Baker"
- ELR D-H 4w-4w No.D1994 "Eastleigh"
- 1000-class 'Bullock' 4-6-2 No.1001 "The Monarch"
- ELR 'Northern Rock'-class 2-6-2 No.10 "Sir Arthur Heywood"
- 1000-class 'Bullock' 4-6-2 No.1002 "The Empress"
- MVR 2-4-4T No.9 "Jason" (visiting from the Moors Valley Railway)

Attractions at the gala included two Breakfast Trains - a 'LAKES EXPRESS' double-reverse run on the Saturday and a parallel run on the Sunday re-creating the 'A Busy Day' painting with "Sandy River" on one train and "The Monarch" & "Sir Arthur Heywood" on the other. There was also the 90th Birthday celebration for "The Monarch" which involved it double-heading with sister "The Empress". A freight shuttle was also run picking up passengers from Monks Brook Halt only and finally a four-loco special was run at the end of Sunday.

Sequences featured in this video are as follows...
- "Sandy River", "The Monarch" & "Sir Arthur Heywood": Parallel Run (Sunday)
- "Sandy River": Set A (both days including 'LAKES EXPRESS')
- "Sir Arthur Heywood": Set C (Saturday)
- "Eastleigh": Set C (Sunday)
- "The Monarch": Set B (Saturday)
- "Sir Arthur Heywood": Set B (Sunday)
- "Eastleigh": Mixed Freight (Saturday)
- "Jason": Mixed Freight (Sunday)
- "The Empress": Set A (Saturday)
- "The Empress" & "The Monarch": Set A (Sunday - "The Monarch's" 90th Birthday Special)
- "Sandy River": Set B (both days)
- "William Baker": Mixed Freight (both days)
- "The Monarch": Set C (Saturday)
- "Sir Arthur Heywood" & "Jason": Set C (Sunday)
- "Jason": Set C (Sunday)
- "Sir Arthur Heywood" & "Jason": Set A (Saturday)
- "The Empress": Set B (both days)
- "Sandy River" & "Eastleigh": Set A (both days)
- "Eastleigh": Set C (Saturday)
- "Sir Arthur Heywood" & "Sandy River": Set A (Saturday)
- "Jason": Set B (Saturday)
- "The Monarch", "Sir Arthur Heywood", "Sandy River" & "Eastleigh": Four Engine Special Finale (Sunday)

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