Great Central Railway (GCR) will kickstart the New Year in style with its Annual Winter Steam Gala, running from 22–25 January. The four-day event will feature an intensive timetable of steam-hauled passenger and goods trains, a strong supporting line-up from the GCR home fleet, and three visiting locomotives steaming through the frosty Charnwood countryside.

Joining the Great Central Railway’s home fleet will be Battle of Britain class locomotive No. 34072 ‘257 Squadron’, offering visitors the chance to see a classic example of Oliver Bulleid’s Light Pacific design in action. Built in 1947, the locomotive is part of the Battle of Britain subclass, developed by the Southern Railway to provide powerful express passenger engines for routes with tighter loading limits. With its distinctive air-smoothed casing and unique design features, ‘257 Squadron’ remains one of Britain’s most individual and instantly recognisable steam locomotives, and its visit offers the opportunity to see a three-cylinder Bulleid Pacific at work on a heritage railway. No. 34072 ‘257 Squadron is appearing with thanks to Swanage Railway and Southern Locomotives Limited (SLL).

Also visiting is BR 9F No. 92134, which will appear renumbered as No. 92043 for the occasion to mark a significant local anniversary and connect the locomotive directly to Great Central history. The original No. 92043 was closely associated with Annesley, the Great Central Railway’s principal locomotive depot in Nottinghamshire, and was among the final locomotives connected with the depot’s last years of steam-era operations before its closure in January 1966. The Winter Steam Gala takes place sixty years after that closure, making the appearance of a 9F—particularly one closely associated with heavy goods work—especially fitting. No. 92134 is also notable as the only surviving single chimney 9F preserved today. The Great Central Railway wishes to thank the Self family as the locomotive’s owners, and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway as its custodian, for the loan of the locomotive and for kindly agreeing to its renumbering.

Completing the visiting line-up is 3809/18 Hunslet ‘Austerity’. Built in 1945, the locomotive carried out its extensive overhaul at the Great Central Railway in 2008 and returned to service on the GCR in 2024. It is now returning to take part in the first steam gala of 2026, arriving back from a period on hire at the North Norfolk Railway. 3809/18 Hunslet ‘Austerity’ appears courtesy of Locomotive Maintenance Services.

Refreshments and places to warm up will be available throughout the event, including the Tin Shed Bar at Quorn and Woodhouse station, serving a range of cask ales and ciders alongside hot and soft drinks and light refreshments. The Butler-Henderson Café and Ellis Tearoom will be open, offering hot and cold food and refreshments as well as the Refreshment Room at Loughborough Central, Platform Tearoom at Rothley and wartime themed Naafi at Quorn & Woodhouse station. Loughborough’s shop, Emporium and museum will be open for visitors to enjoy, too.

For more details visit gcrailway.co.uk