The Greatest Gathering – A Personal View

Presenter: Ian Scotchman

Hybrid Meeting both Physically at Shenfield Parish Hall and via Zoom

The Greatest Gathering was held during the first weekend of August last year and formed a key part of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. Alstom’s historic Derby Litchurch Lane Works hosted the world's largest-ever gathering of over 140 rail vehicles from the past 200 years

Iain described joining the Branch Line Society’s ‘Creighton-Ward Explorer’ rail-tour that ran from Crewe and terminated right inside the works the night before the official opening. The Avanti ‘Pride’ Pendolino hauled by class 57 ‘Thunderbird’ loco ‘Lady Penelope’ lending the tour its name (Creighton-Ward being the surname of Lady Penelope in the Thunderbirds TV Series). A late afternoon arrival provided the opportunity for several hours of evening sunshine to photograph the assembled rolling stock prior to the admission of the General Public the following day. Whilst the evening sunshine was welcome, it did highlight the problems in photographing ‘out-shopped’ stock with highly reflective paintwork making it akin to trying to photograph a mirror.

The second part of the presentation featured shots from the first public day. Whilst large numbers of people did attend, the size of the site meant that it was not too crowded and photography with relatively few bodies in shot was still possible with a little patience.  Iain managed to capture pretty well the whole of the assembled line-up which provided a valuable record of this unique event – one that probably will not be repeated for at least another 50 years.