Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries – an entry for our visit to the Toddington Narrow Gauge Railway a couple of days ago. Visit “50 years of preservation” for the words and pictures – the latter mostly of that rather nice Henschel…

Taking the M5 south, we turn off for Toddington at Ashchurch – passing the site of the works where the Dowty RPS was formed in October 1962. The site, on the curve connecting the main line to the branch to Upton-on-Severn and beyond, is no longer recognisable, though trains still stop at Ashchurch (for Tewkesbury) station, and the MOD depot to the west of the main line is still rail-served, by the stub of the former line to Evesham, Redditch and, ultimately, Barnt Green.

The preservation effort in the 1960s was standard gauge – I remember my first sight of 6201 “Princess Elizabeth” in store there in 1968 – today’s efforts are a few miles further east, to a much smaller gauge (2′ 0″), and operational under a different guise – “The Toddington Narrow Gauge Railway“. Nevertheless, a 50th anniversary would provide a reason (or excuse?) for a gathering and a steam up. We had to go…

Haven’t had time yet to put together the “Rail Diaries” page – soon, perhaps; in the meantime, a sample – it’s Henschel 0-8-0T no. 1091 of 1918, rather a fine old machine.

A trip out today, to see Black 5 no. 44932 hauling “The Welsh Borders Steam Special”, from Crewe to Shrewsbury via Chester, then, later in the day, back to Crewe by the direct route. The light was lovely – the sun shone when the train came. A bit of white steam against those autumn leaves would have been very pleasant, even if the location wasn’t perfect.

I don’t know what went wrong… I’d had high hopes of a location for the return trip – perhaps another time?

Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries – more pictures and an account of yesterday’s visit to the Severn Valley Railway.  Go to “Southern Steam on the SVR“

It’s the Autumn Steam Gala on the Severn Valley Railway this weekend, with today’s weather likely to be the best, by far, for the three-day event. It was pretty good too – plenty of sunshine and cool air, and not too many clouds making a nuisance of themselves. My objective – to get a decent photo of the three visitors and the newcomer (whether I succeeded is a matter of opinion).

*and the Coal Tank.

A “Rail Diaries” page will follow in due course; here’s a taster

A ride on the Llangollen Railway – our train was steam-hauled, but this beautifully restored railcar* was also trundling up and down the line.

Rural railway, a photo by geoffspages on Flickr.

…and now for Apedale. Just published – the story and the photos from Sunday’s super trip to the Moseley Railway Trust’s Apedale Valley Railway. Visit “Contractors’ Delight at Apedale” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries

The photos and an account of Saturday’s trip to Chasewater – visit “Chasewater – the Industrial Gala” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries…

It doesn’t seem long since the smaller locomotives were emerging from hibernation – now they’re having a bit of late summer fun, before being put away for the winter… Yes, there were two great galas to choose from this weekend – but there was no need to choose – we could do both. The only debate was “which day?”. So we went to Chasewater (heads) yesterday, and Apedale (tails) today, and came home with lots of photos to work through.

There will be “Rail Diaries” pages; in the meantime, a couple of tasters – “Colin McAndrew” and “Linda” make a steamy departure from Brownhills West with the coal (empties) train; “Marchlyn” and “Joffre” pose at the rebuilt Silverdale station, Apedale.