Just published to “Geoff’s Rail Diaries”, an account and lots of pictures of yesterday’s fun on a gloomy day. Visit “Never dull at Statfold” – now!
Tag: Statfold
It’s never dull at Statfold
Even when the weather is gloomy… Today was the first of this year’s open days at the Statfold Barn Railway. The March event can be really great for photography if the sun shines – but apart from a few minutes when the sky was (partially) blue and the sun shone, the weather was unremittingly dull. At least it didn’t rain. There was plenty of interest, and lots going on – and a real eye-opener in Oak Tree shed. A “Rail Diaries” page will appear tomorrow or Monday – in the meantime, here’s a taster.
Statfold; 1 megapost
Saturday 10 June: the latter is nothing to do with the former. This just happens to be the 1,000th post on this blog (which started life just over 11 years ago, on Blogspot*). What better way to celebrate (given that I noticed quite by chance that no. 1,000 was approaching) than a coincidental trip to the Statfold Barn Railway, for the June open day. It was a lazier day than usual – not good weather for photography (though the rain held off), and the increasing numbers attending make photography more and more difficult too, in more ways than one. It’s still a great day out though!
*I moved the posts across to WordPress
Sunny Statfold
We had a fine sunny day for our visit to Statfold today – perfect conditions for watching no fewer than twenty 2’0″gauge steam locos in action. (I didn’t try to count them – they keep moving around, and I’d have fallen asleep). As well as the usual locals, visitor “Diana” from Bala Lake took a star turn, along with the delightful newly-restored Peckett Liassic. A “Rail Diaries” page will appear sooner or later; in the meantime here’s a picture of the Peckett.
Trains in the rain
Just published to Geoff’s Rail Diaries, “Soggy Statfold” – photos from that rather damp day out.
Catholic tastes
Towards the end of the afternoon, it occurred to me that, over the weekend, I’d seen a quite amazing range of railway activity. Yesterday we started with the Statfold open day – rather a soggy one, sadly, though the weather had changed completely by the time we saw Princess Elizabeth hurrying southward from Church Stretton, shortly before 6pm. This afternoon we were at Nantmawr where we had a ride on an ancient DMU, barely half-a-mile down the last remaining section of the former “Potts”. The main reason for our visit however was to see the incredible collection of industrial monorail equipment, which until very recently was in storage at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
More on the above will appear on “Geoff’s Rail Diaries” in due course, though I’m acutely conscious of a growing backlog. So far as this blog’s concerned, we were still on Skye until this entry. I hardly dare say it, but I could do with a few more rainy days…
Ten years later
As promised: photos etc. from Saturday’s trip to Statfold – 10 years after my first visit (how things have changed!) – now at http://geoffspages.co.uk/raildiary/statfold10years.htm
Alpha: Statfold
Just back from another good day at the Statfold Barn Railway. Photos etc. will appear in due course on “Geoff’s Rail Diaries” – in the meantime, a taster: Hudswell Clarke 1172 of 1922 “Alpha”, the latest new entrant. I’d say more about this lovely little loco – if I knew any more about it…
Update: it’s from the Ryam sugar mill in India – same place as the little black Davenport, also resident at Statfold… See http://geoffspages.co.uk/raildiary/davenport.htm Thanks to http://www.steamlocomotive.info/ for that.
Sunshine and showers at Statfold
It was only a little one, at the start of our day – after that, plenty of sunshine and, from time to time, interesting lighting conditions. Visit “Statfold Again” on Geoff’s Rail Diaries for lots of pictures…
Rain, steam and (relatively low) speed
Been to Statfold today. The overnight night rain cleared, but there was plenty of cloud around, making for some threatening skies and, just occasionally, dramatic lighting. Here’s a sample – eventually, there will be several more pictures on Geoff’s Rail Diaries (when I’ve done the Waverley photos…).
geoffspages.blog 