A pleasant mid-evening wander at The Yeld, on the western slopes of Brown Clee. The thunderstorms and torrential rain we’d had during the morning had passed – up here there was little sign of bad weather. I suppose the sheep did seem cleaner and whiter than usual…
It was the Brownhills Canal Festival 2012 today – a pleasant way to pass an hour or so. We thought the deep-sea diver was rather good – not just a clever generator of double takes, he actually could sing and play the (?) mandolin rather well.
http://brownhillscanalfestival.wordpress.com/
A great spotted woodpecker decided to grace our garden with his presence earlier this evening – spent long enough on the nuts for me to get out the video camera and tripod. Filmed through the kitchen window…
There was a lot on this weekend, but Saturday’s weather was not at all clement (heavy showers, interspersed with longer periods of rain). Sunday looked better – so it was toss-a-coin time – coal trains day at Chasewater, or the Amerton gala (with a couple of visitors from Statfold)? It was also the day of the Cosford air show, which seems to ensure cloud and rain at this time of year.
We stayed long enough for a ride and a few photos from the sodden fields beside Amerton brook, before rain began to threaten rather ominously…
For more pictures and info visit “An afternoon at Amerton” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries.
Perhaps Sunday might be a bit better? It wasn’t. There was some dry weather around – but also some very heavy showers. Driving north on Blakey Ridge, the road was dry, and there was a hint of sunshine – but down to our left, Farndale was getting a bit of a shower. We drove into it a mile or two further on, though it dried up sufficiently to let us get into the tea room in Rosedale Abbey a little while later…
We were staying in Yorkshire over the weekend – trying to avoid the showers (and later, the flooded roads) – not easy. A visit to Bempton, to view the seabirds, seemed like a good idea, though I had left the longer lenses at home. Not that it mattered too much – the birds are, in places, very close. I think they’re used to having their pictures taken. Bempton is home to Britain’s largest mainland colony of gannets, apparently, with thousands of pairs nesting precariously on the vertical chalk cliffs (along with various gulls, guillemots, puffins et al.)
See http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/bemptoncliffs for more.
Saturday 2nd June was a grey day – hardly ideal, but not the washout that Sunday 3rd June turned out to be. I’m glad I wasn’t standing beside the Thames yesterday… And Statfold is always fun, whatever the weather. Visit “A grey day at Statfold” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for more photos of another great day’s entertainment.
*Many of the locos are green, and in places undoubtedly greasy, though it hardly seems worth mentioning. Statfold is nowhere near the Limpopo.
…and here’s the other “Rail Diaries” entry. After our ride to Cayeux-sur-Mer, on the Baie de Somme railway, we’d driven some 60-odd miles to Le P’tit train de la Haute Somme. Visit “Froissy – Cappy – Dompierre” to find out more.
Just posted to Geoff’s Rail Diaries – “Rails around the Somme Bay“, the full account of our visit(s) to the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme, illustrated by 55 photos. Now for the Froissy – Cappy – Dompierre…
In March last year, a most unusual steam locomotive was parked on blocks beside the turntable at the Statfold Barn Railway. It had clearly been out of use for some time. Bearing a “Minas de Aller” plate on the (pannier?) tank, and a Corpet, Paris, worksplate (439 of 1884), its horizontal cylinders were mounted much higher than is usual, connecting to the wheels by a substantial rocking lever. A little research reveals that this is an example of “Brown’s indirect motion”. Quite!
It was still there in June last year (in the company of newly-arrived Avonside “Marchlyn”) – but when I visited in March this year, it was in one of the sheds beside the turntable – and had obviously undergone much tlc. Painted a plain black, and lacking its tanks, it was obviously not yet ready for use – perhaps in June?
– Yes – as we walked out towards the fields, there it was, Graham Lee at the controls, looking (as ever with Statfold rebuilds) like a brand new engine, Brown’s indirect motion a delight to see in action. Wonderful stuff!
A “Rail Diaries” entry will follow – eventually. When I’ve finished the Baie de Somme page, and the Froissy – Cappy – Dompierre page, and one or two other little jobs, that is. In the meantime, here are the before and after shots of that strange machine.
geoffspages.blog 