That's the way to do it....

The Apedale Valley Light Railway hosted a birthday party yesterday. In a rather unusual twist, the party had a Punch & Judy man set-up at Apedale Road station. Very well-loaded trains took the guests to and from this venue, where all concerned seemed to enjoy the usual display of domestic violence. We have to say that the whole thing was extremely well planned by the mother concerned, who we rather hoped might volunteer as roster clerk for the railway. Now that the war is over, we are open every Saturday until end October plus Sundays 12 & 26th October. We're doing Halloween on the 25th & 26th October, when the usual Halloween high-jinks will take place, with the cast of Witches, Werewolves and the Undead. Budding Zombies should get in touch here.

A Bale of Turtles

During the mega-shunt which took place on Monday after Tracks to the Trenches, the Organisers decided we would set-up the photos you see. We think it is the first time, in the preservation era, that one of each type of the 40HP Motor Rail locos - known as Tin Turtles - have been together. From left, 2182 is an Armoured type - based at Leighton Buzzard. Then we see our own Protected loco, and finally two Opens - Mike Hart's MR435, usually to be found at the Ffestiniog Railway, and Amberley's MR1381. Lurking out of sight in the shed is the "Forgotten Turtle" - MR1320 - also known as The Block of Flats. This one doesn't get out much, largely due to the scary condition of the wheels, engine and most of the rest of it. It is probably worth just reviewing the other Tin Turtles which survive. LR3098 belongs to the NRM and is the twin of our own LR3090 - both being ex-Knostrop sewage works. This loco VERY nearly came to the event, but last minute problems sadly meant that this was not to be. The Ffestiniog is also host to "Mary Ann"; this was on the event wish-list, but has wheels to FR specs, not ours. A failure to pass our back-to-back gauge meant trouble with check rails was almost guaranteed, so a no-go. Duxford museum hosts MR1364, entombed in the Land Warfare Hall. Finally is the enigmatic Hibberd 2914. This standard gauge loco, once at Chasewater and now somewhere in Staffordshire, almost certainly incorporates the frames of a 40HP Turtle. So, we make that five of the nine survivors at Apedale for the weekend, which isn't bad, is it? The collective noun for Turtles is a Bale, by the way.

Day Two of Tracks to the Trenches

What a day! Just one more chance to see sights like these - see you tomorrow, perhaps? Details here.

The Big Push Finally Begins

Tracks to the Trenches is Go! Day one complete, and quite light losses so far to enemy action (although the beer tent seemed ready to claim a few victims as night was falling). One of the losses from an earlier artillery strike, however, is shown in the photo.
See you this weekend? Details here.

All Present, Ready and Correct, Sir!!

Yet more arrivals from all corners of the UK - Vale of Rheidol, Deepest Derbyshire, Statfold and Leighton Buzzard. The booked line-up is now complete for Tracks to the Trenches. But will there be any last-minute surprise extras? There's only one way for you to find out!!

Dimensionally Transcendental

The steady stream of arrivals of exhibits for Tracks to the Trenches has continued. Recent arrivals have been Mike Hart's Motor Rail 435 - a previously unannounced entry to the event, and one which has already found considerable approval from some of our volunteers as it is fitted with an electric-start Gardner engine, as built in somewhere called Patricroft. This loco was LR2156. Our friends in Skegness, the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway Historic Vehicles Trust have sent a Class P Ration Wagon, which makes an interesting contrast with the similar wagon from Amberley which arrived a few weeks ago via the War and Peace show. The two Welsh Highland Heritage Railway locos - Motor Rail 264 and Baguley 760 arrived in some style. MR264 is, of course, the oldest Motor Rail in Great Britain. Finally, and perhaps best of all, the long-awaited arrival of HC1238 - the Trust's Very Own Steam loco - took place. This, along with the Joffre and Brigadelok - took part in a photo charter, and very good it all seemed to. Many, many Pixels were harmed during the day. All of these things seem to go into the various sheds without too many problems, which is vaguely troubling as the buildings were full before. Apparently, the buildings now exist in a different dimension to the rest of the site, which is a contingency not considered when we wrote the Safety Management System. One by-product of this is that the Red Shed can now be used to travel in time. We have gone forward  a week, came back, and can report that the Tracks to the Trenches event was absolutely brilliant. But why take our word for it? Come and see for yourself next Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Details are here. Get in touch here.