Train Weekend

An immaculate Class 40 at Bury

We were supposed to be meeting up with friends from Telford on Saturday, but it got cancelled at the last minute.  This meant that Tom could go to Craven Wanderers practice which he was happy about. It is much better this year because Finn, Matthew, Fred and Caitlin are doing it this year.  I guess someone has to be the path layer with theses things.  After a soak to get the mud off we had lunch at Bernies and then a quiet afternoon. The Ellershaws had lent us a copy of Zootropolis, which we watched while slumped on the sofas. It was a good film, with a lot of nice touches - especially the sloths.

Tom and a Class 37 (his favourite) at Bury Bolton Street.

On Sunday, Tom, Grandpa and I headed down to the East Lancashire Railway for their annual diesel gala. They were running a very frequent service, with all the trains being pulled by vintage diesel locomotives, including some that had been polished to within an inch of their lives - they looked magnificent. We parked at Rawtenstall and caught the first train of the day down to Bury Bolton Street, the main station on the line, where there was plenty going on and plenty of stalls where one could spend one's hard earned pocket money. Tom spent a whole £20 on an OO gauge Stobart Rail low loader, to add to his ever increasing collection of Stobart vehicles. None of us realised, however, that it was a display model rather than an ordinary toy, and it was screwed to a base plate with 4 weird screws with triangular heads that required me to buy a set of specialist screwdriver heads from an online store in China, which arrived 2 weeks later - all's well that ends well though.

Tom, Grandpa and a Class 50 at Heywood

We had a basic lunch on the platform at Bury station, washed down with nice beer and many lungfuls of white smoke from a Class 50 that was clearly in need of a service.
Still, we managed two full trips up and down the line, behind a variety of locomotives, many of which did look and sound magnificent, especially the two old green Class 40s they had running. They are clearly well loved and pampered engines.
I must say, it seems a very well-run heritage railway - quite a long line, nice stations, friendly staff (volunteers) and lots of things to enjoy. I have a feeling we'll be back for another visit before too long.

You can see a video of the day here: https://youtu.be/xu58pVgWE8c