The Steam Gala
The Steam Gala Extravaganza
19th to 22nd march 2026
Across four action-packed days, enjoy the sight, sound and spectacle of our visiting guest locomotives alongside the home fleet. An intensive passenger timetable will operate throughout the event, offering plenty of opportunities to travel behind a variety of steam traction.
The weekend programme also features a traditional goods train demonstration and special double-headed services, making this a must-see event for steam enthusiasts and families alike.
guest locomotives
home fleet
We hope to have seven locomotives available from the home fleet across the weekend. Please look out for locomotive allocations closer to the event. While every effort will be made to ensure that the advised motive power is available, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway reserves the right to make changes when operational circumstances dictate.
Purchased by two pioneering members of the KWVR directly from British Railways, it arrived on the Worth Valley, where it was painted maroon and, along with USA Tank No. 30072, double-headed the “Re-opening Special” in June 1968.
This locomotive class was designed by H.G. lvatt in 1946 for the London Midland & Scottish Railway. lvatt had been very impressed with American locomotive designs used in this country during the Second World War, especially with labour-saving devices such as grease lubrication of the engine’s motion and a rocking grate in the firebox. This latter feature, for example, meant the crews did not have to use a long-handled shovel to “paddle out” the fire. He also designed the engines with repair and maintenance in mind, making most of the motion and pipework easily accessible to crew and fitters.
41241 arrived at Keighley under its own power in 1967 in good running order, having been in storage at Skipton shed since its earlier withdrawal from service. It is perhaps the most typical original branch line engine on the KWVR, making it an ideal motive power for the railway.
When the engine arrived on the Worth Valley it was painted maroon and, along with USA Tank No. 30072, double-headed the “Re-opening Special” on 29th June 1968. Resplendent in its distinctive red livery, 41241 wrote itself into Worth Valley folklore on the Re-opening Special. Although coming to the end of steam on the national network, operating ex-BR locomotives in BR livery was forbidden. The choice of livery decided upon was the non-authentic, but appropriate crimson, reflecting its LMS lineage.
41241 became a regular sight over the coming months and years, carrying the same in-house red livery. Passing into KWVR ownership, in the early ’70s, 41241 was a stalwart performer culminating in 1975 with its last outing onto the mainline, from Keighley to Shildon, Co. Durham for Stockton and Darlington 125 celebrations.
This engine became subject to one of the earliest private locomotive purchase schemes established in the country and was one of the earliest arrivals on the nascent KWVR. It was bought outright initially by Mr Tony Cox and kept at Retford, Nottinghamshire. When Mr Cox became secretary of the nascent Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in the West Riding of Yorkshire, he brought the engine to the Worth Valley, arriving in March 1965, three years before opening. Affectionately known as ‘The Green Dragon’ in ‘The Railway Children’ film, 957.
The engine has a long list of film and television credits and is probably best known for its appearance in the 1970 feature film ‘The Railway Children’ when, in green livery, it gained the unofficial name of the ‘Green Dragon’. The engine has also featured in BBC’s ‘Born and Bred’ and the remake of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’.
Having been the show star in 1970, it wasn’t long before its age took its toll, and it was taken out of traffic in 1975. It remained sidelined until a bequest came to the locomotive’s rescue. Now owned by the Bowers 957 Trust, the locomotive returned to full working order in 2001 following an overhaul costing £150,000. On withdrawal at the expiration of its boiler certificate, 957 was put aside at Oxenhope in 2012. In 2016, the locomotive was moved to Haworth and overhauled in time for the 51st anniversary of The Railway Children in 2021.
The locomotive will appear at the Steam Gala in British Railways Black livery as 52044.
Without the outbreak of war 1054 (then LMS no. 7799) would have been visiting the breakers as it was withdrawn from service on the day before war was declared. With a need for motive power, 7799 was restored to service and lasted for another 19 years. When eventually withdrawn, the locomotive was bought privately before passing to the National Trust and eventually handed to the Bahamas Locomotive Society for safekeeping.
Encouraged by the progress made with the rebuild of 75078, the Standard 4 Locomotive Society returned to Barry in 1975, purchasing 78022, a locomotive ideally suited to the Worth Valley branch. It was offloaded at Haworth on the 11th of June 1975 and laid aside to await the day when restoration would begin, although it was to be another 18 years before this locomotive was restored to running order
Rescued by the Standard Four Locomotive Society, the 21st departure from Barry, 75078 arrived on the KWVR in June 1972. The restoration was completed in 1977 and operates today after successive overhauls, the last completed in October 2022.
Built in 1927 at Shrewsbury by Sentinel—renowned for their steam-powered road wagons—the locomotive was delivered new to British Tar Products Ltd at Cadishead, Lancashire. There it spent over four decades in constant industrial service, shunting tar wagons around the site until retirement in 1969. The locomotive is believed to have been named after the managing director’s daughter. Saved for preservation, it moved to the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, where an ambitious rebuild was begun by a local schoolteacher with pupils from Airville School in Skipton. Sadly, funding ran out before the boiler overhaul could be completed, and the locomotive returned to Embsay.
In 1995, an Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway member revived the stalled project, completing the overhaul in 1998. The locomotive then saw limited use, mainly as a stationary steam heating boiler during winter months, before being withdrawn again in 2005 and stored outdoors at Bolton Abbey. Purchased by two new owners in July 2020, it moved to the East Lancashire Railway for overhaul, steaming again remarkably quickly on 27 February 2021. Since then, it has featured in shunting demonstrations, brake van rides and occasional passenger trains. In December 2024, the locomotive returned to Yorkshire as a permanent resident of the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, where it is hoped that Ann will add extra interest to steam galas and special events with short rides and occasional Worth Valley workings.
‘Dora’ was built in 1927 by the Avonside Engine Company for the British Electricity Authority at Barton, near Manchester. Carrying works number 1973, the locomotive was delivered new as the site’s “No. 2” engine, undertaking industrial duties throughout its working life.
Following withdrawal from service and entry into preservation, No. 1973 spent a short period based at Haworth Yard during the 1970s. Although it did not operate passenger trains, the locomotive was steamed and ran up and down the Haworth loop. It was later sold and moved to the Nene Valley Railway, before a subsequent period at the Rutland Railway Museum. Now privately owned by Neil McArthur, ‘Dora’ has undergone an extensive restoration in recent years at Riley & Son (E) Ltd, and has returned to Haworth for testing, commissioning and running-in.