Tyseley Locomotive Works Open Day

Tyseley Locomotive Works in South Birmingham held a couple of of their open days at the weekend which included an impressive display of locomotives (including some good diesels) and some running steam. Its always interesting to visit their sheds and see the progress of the various new build locomotives as well as enjoy a bit of live steam. You can see my photos here.

66 Gala

Last weekend the lovely Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway held a special gala with a DB Cargo Class 66 as special guest. It was enjoyable being hauled up the line by the 66, the first time i have been on a train hauled by the freight locomotive. Also novel was the fact the train i was on and being hauled was the CPPR's 3-CEP EMU. This is a train i love (and indeed own one myself... albeit in model form!)

Galas are always fun to visit as you get these unusual combinations and also a lot more trains than on a usual service day. You can see my photos here.

Multiple Memories

Yesterday I had a very enjoyable visit to the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway again for their "Multiple Memories" event though this was not my original intention for Saturday. I had gone to Matlock to travel on the Peak Rail Line though their services were all cancelled due to a locomotive failure (seems a bit odd they couldn't organise alternatives and instead lose 50% of an entire week's running but hey ho!)

Luckily i was able to head back down the line to Duffield and go on the EVR instead which is always worth a visit anyway and as i have said before probably my favourite preserved line these days. You can see my photos here.

Electric Railway Museum

The Electric Railway Museum is fairly close (Coventry) to where i live but i haven't been to it until now mostly because it does not open that often. Yesterday though was its first open day of the year and i visited and viewed the great selection of electric trains, mostly EMUs.

Most of their collection is unique and it is a shame that EMUs and the like tend to be neglected by most of the railway preservation movement. Still as long as one survives is all that matters i suppose, its not like we need breeding pairs, though there is safety in numbers. You can see my photographs here, check out their website for the next open day, they are very worth a visit.

Isle of Wight Steam Railway

As i mentioned in the blog post on the Island Line only one stretch of the once extensive Isle of Wight railway system now remains in use. There is another line though which runs from Smallbrook Junction to Wootton which is operated by the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. I had an enjoyable ride along the line hauled by British Railways and later Southern steam locomotives. They have a nice museum too at Havenstreet, well worth a visit. A nice friendly line like the EVR. You can see my photos here.

Back to the EVR

Although the Severn Valley Railway remains my favourite there is something about the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR) in Derbyshire that also has great appeal. Its on a lot smaller scale than the SVR (though has a decent line length at 14.5 km) and doesn't have the multi-million pound investments in infrastructure. Everything is a lot more simple and friendlier and a bit more approachable. Anyway yesterday i returned to the EVR for their Mixed Traction Event which involved their usual DMUs being hauled by 2 preserved diesel locomotives.


Both locos are proud products of the Midlands in Derby's Class 25 and Birmingham's Class 33. I also had a trip on a short steam line up to the EVR's spur line up to Ravenstor, my first trip in a brake van! That can be crossed off the bucket list. You can see my photos here.

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

I go to the Severn Valley Railway a lot but thought it was high time i visited another preserved line, there are after all many in the UK. I visited the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway today and enjoyed it immensely. Its a lovely preserved line running from Wirksworth to Duffield in Derbyshire. Its not far away from me, the train journey from Birmingham to Duffield takes about an hour.

Used to the well established SVR the EVR is much more back to basics and seems a bit more fun too (and very friendly). They run DMUs mostly, and it was highly nostalgic to ride in a BR blue & grey DMU again, but with a motley collection of stock in their yard at Wirksworth. I shall definitely be visiting more often. You can see my photos here.

Crewe Heritage Centre

I went to Crewe Heritage Centre yesterday, a superb railway engineering attraction in the old railway town of Crewe. Highlight for me was being able to sit in the cab of a class 87, a rather simple "office" considering these trains can go up to 110mph and haul hundreds of tons whilst doing so! But then again as long as you have the controls to go and stop you have most bases covered. You can see my photos here along some some photos taken at Crewe station too.

Behind the scenes

Back to the Severn Valley Railway yesterday this time for the "Behind the scenes" open day, this is when the SVR grant the public access to areas of the preserved railway that are usually restricted to members and staff such as the workshops at Bridgnorth and the carriage sheds at Kidderminster. I had a great time exploring these areas of the SVR as well as the cab of a class 20 diesel locomotive, amazingly it was the first cab i have ever been in! You can see my photos here.

Maybe the best part of the day was being able to get "up close and personal" with locomotives. Usually you interact with locos at platform level but when you are track side you get a much different and much more impressive perspective of these machines.

A Thumper in Leamington

On a lovely sunny day i headed to Leamington Spa for some train thrash and a bit of canal walking. The main reason to go was to check out a preserved Class 201 diesel electric multiple unit which was running on a railtour from Hastings to Stratford-upon-Avon. I've never seen a "Thumper" (as they are nicknamed) before and certainly never thought i would see one in my beloved Warwickshire! You can see my railway related photos here. I must go on a railtour myself one day...

London Transport Museum Depot

I've wanted to go to the London Transport Museum's Depot in Acton for some time, it is where the majority of the collection is held but it is not usually open to the public and i was going to go to the open weekend last month but a bad flu meant i couldn't go. But never mind as i went yesterday instead on a small guided tour and in hindsight it was a much better way to experience this fantastic facility than with lots of people milling about (if you want to take photographs).

The depot exceeded even my high expectations and i think it might be the best heritage visit i've ever made, the wealth of preserved tube stock is amazing and i was able to board a number of historic vehicles plus get up close with a number of unique exhibits. And of course take lots of photographs, which can be seen here!

GWR 48XX/14XX Class

The 14XX class was a branch line steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway in the mid-1930s. Seventy five of these small tank engines were built which had a 0-4-2 wheel arrangement, the four wheels at the front of the design being powered, of which 4 were preserved and survive today on heritage railways and museums. The example shown here 1450 is seen on the Severn Valley Railway.

Although dating from 1932 the origin of the 14XX class (originally called the 48XX) was the GWR 517 class from the 1860s. This design was continually modified and improved over the years with the  48XX locomotives built as a more modern version of the ageing 512 class locomotives.

The 14XX (as they become after World War 2) could work with an autocoach, a coach with a driving cab at one end getting rid of the need (and wasted time) of the locomotive having to change ends of the train at termini. When in push mode with the autocoach the fireman remained in the locomotive with the driver operating the locomotive via controls in the autocoach cab. The driver communicated with the fireman using an electric bell.

Typical routes a 14XX and autocoach were used on included High Wycombe-Aylesbury, the last running using this motive power being in 1962, and Bourne End-Marlow. The 14XX class had a decent career (though nowhere near as long as their 517 class forerunners) and made it to mainline steam's final decade with the final withdrawals in the mid-1960s.

Severn Valley Railway

The Severn Valley Railway is one of those gems in Midlands' tourist attractions that i have kept meaning to visit but always forget to... until now. I had a few days left on my last train season ticket to Worcester so took the opportunity to visit the SVR at Kidderminster. I have actually been to the SVR once before but that was when i was a cub scout in the late 70s or early 80s. I remember a camp somewhere near Bewdley, and a trip on the train to Bridgnorth but little else apart from earwigs and a sprained ankle.

I didn't go to Bridgnorth this time but instead took the steam train to the new visitor centre and museum at Highley. The journey there was in an old skool compartment coach, such a lovely way to travel. You can see my photos here. Well its taken me over 30 years to return to the SVR but i think my next trip will be soon. Less than 30 years time anyway!

POTD : Vintage at Fradley

A vintage van at Fradley canal junction.

Rebuilding the Titanic?

Forget raising the Titanic Australian mining entrepreneur Clive Palmer wants to build a life-size replica of the doomed ocean liner (personally i find building ships to 1:700 scale more manageable than 1:1). Although the ship will be built with an eye for detail with the same style of furnishings as the original and will not have TVs or free WiFi the ship will have some modern refinements such as air conditioning and sufficient life boats!

It looks like the ship is intended to be more a floating theme park rather than an ocean liner built to a retro style. Passengers will be able to dress up in period clothing and party like its 1912. The ship will retain the three separate classes of the original (and classes will not be able to mix) though there could be an option to sample life in all 3 classes. Palmer is hoping the ship, which could begin construction this year, will be ready to recreate the ill-fated Atlantic cruise of Titanic 1.0 in 2016. Hopefully avoiding ice bergs...

Photo from Flickr Commons (State Library of Queensland)

HMS Caroline

Missed this earlier in the month but HMS Caroline, the last survivor from the Battle of Jutland, has been given a grant of £1 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) for urgent repairs. The cruiser was finally decommissioned in 2011 following decades as a  training ship in Belfast (the ship's home since 1924) and static drill ship but its condition has deteriorated and the future of the ship was in question.

The funds will make the ship water and air tight and will remove dangerous materials like asbestos. The next stage is to transform the Caroline into a floating museum, hopefully for the centenary of Jutland in 2016. The Telegraph have a nice photo gallery.