Red Engines

On 05 Jun 2016 By geoffspagesIn Photography, Railways...Leave a comment

Day 1 of the “Cambrian Coast Express” tour: it was to have been hauled by “Flying Scotsman”, but in the event, 46599 “Galatea” hauled the train between Paddington and Shrewsbury. We’d better go and see it, though there probably won’t be much visible steam on a warm day like this. Having see the large red engine pass (five minutes early), we headed north (ish) to Woodseaves, near Market Drayton – it’s a “garden plant centre”, and has a rather splendid 7.25″ gauge railway (quite the other end of the scale…). The little green diesel “Sydney” was in charge when we arrived, but “Jean” was soon in steam – so we had two trips around the interesting layout – one hauled by Syd and the other behind Jean. We met the toad shortly after Galatea had hurried past; the aquilegia which came home with us will join several others (which invited themselves) in the garden.

Benthall Buttercups

On 03 Jun 2016 By geoffspagesIn Photography, Shropshire hills, WalksLeave a comment

It’s a beautiful afternoon – too good to stay at home, too warm to walk far in the sunshine. If we leave the car at Benthall Hall we can do a circular walk, much of it in the very pleasant woodlands of Benthall Edge and nearby. It’s lovely down in the woods today, as the song goes, but we must leave them to walk back through the fields towards the car – fields full of buttercups, yellow in all directions.

View OS map on Streetmap http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=365735&Y=302716&A=Y&Z=120

Magpie, Titterstone and Clee

On 02 Jun 201603 Jun 2016 By geoffspagesIn Photography, Railways..., Shropshire hills, Walks2 Comments

Walking in south Shropshire with a “railway” friend: one who appreciates the interest in the remnants of industry in these very quiet hills. They’ve been extensively quarried for stone – parts are still being worked – and the coal measures were exploited too, many years ago. There are former railway trackbeds, of the standard gauge line which took stone down to Ludlow, and the narrow gauge lines which threaded the workings. Magpie Hill’s stone went by a different means and route – an aerial ropeway took its stone down to Detton Ford, on the long-gone CM&DP. The concrete bases of the pylons are still in place, and there are bits of rail here and there, mostly in use as fence posts and similar. Long-abandoned concrete structures stand here and there, slowly crumbling, like the remains of some lost futuristic city. They can feel rather spooky when the mist comes down, but there’s no such nonsense on a fine sunny June day.