An engine which has been rather out of the limelight in these pages recently has been the Apedale flagship - "Stanhope". In all the fuss about Joffres and Hudswells and all that new-fangled nonsense, the old workhorse has rather gone to ground. In fact, "Stanhope" has been on holiday at the North Gloucestershire Railway at Toddington. The deal was that it came to Gloucestershire as a return load whilst the NGR Brigadelok was doing its stuff at Apedale during World War One. A little more shed space was, temporarily, also extremely welcome. The NGR is also host to a second Brigadelok - the second one is restored to the condition in which it worked for Sena Sugar. Not sure the face was a feature in Mozambique, but who knows. All good things come to an end, and "Stanhope" will be returning to Apedale in the next few weeks, as the NGR operating season has now come to an end with their annual Gala. The Brigadelok, by the way, is heading even further north - to Alston. This is a destination reached by roads which have the road haulier in a cold sweat. This coming weekend, 11 and 12 October, will be the last chance to see the Brigadelok in operation at Apedale - we expect to operate this plus the new Hudswell HC1238. See here for opening times etc, and (as ever) get in touch here.
