The Dean Forest Railway, will hold its 2023 Royal Forest of Steam gala over the weekend of 14 and 15 October.

The theme will be ‘Steam in South Wales’, and both mainline companies and industrial railways will be represented at the event.

The Railway, which runs for four-and-a-half miles through the woodlands of the Forest of Dean, has so far announced two visiting locomotives:

No. 1340 ‘Trojan’, appearing courtesy of the Didcot Railway Centre. This loco was built by the Avonside Engine Company in Bristol in 1897 for Dunn and Shute of Newport Town Dock. In 1903, the Alexandra Docks Railway bought it for its hundred-mile system of lines, and when the Great Western Railway absorbed that, no. 1340 went with it.

The loco worked at Cardiff Cathays and Radyr sheds, until it was withdrawn from Cardiff in 1932. It then worked in industry, and entered preservation coming in 1968. It has recently returned to steam for the second time in preservation.

Bagnall No. 401 ‘Vulcan’, appearing courtesy of the North Tyneside Steam Railway and the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. This locomotive used to work at Port Talbot Steelworks. It is one of only three Bagnall ‘New Standard 18’ locos to be built, as their planned role as the standard post-war heavy shunter was superceded by diesel shunters. Two of the three, including No. 401, moved to the Longbridge plant of the Austin Motor Company, and later went into preservation.

The Dean Forest Railway’s home fleet will work alongside visiting engines from across the country. The event will include multiple passenger trains, brake van rides in the demonstration goods train, and attractions at stations along the line.

Tickets can be bought here, and are priced at:

• Adult (18+): £28
• Child (3-17): £15
• Dog: £2