Merry Christmas!

This is my last post of '09, just to say Merry Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year. 2009 has been a great year for steam, with 6229 being re-streamlined, 6100 returning to service, 70013 and 60163 both having great main line years and the return of 34059 Sir Archibald Sinclair, the only rebuilt BoB to steam in preservation. See you in 2010!

Small Yankies

Hi, sorry for the long wait. Just another point about Yankies, this time the Yankie Tanks. Four are preserved and although they have all worked in preservation only one is currently operational, one is on display at the KWVR museum in a nice condition whilst the other ones are on display in a not-so-nice condition. They're very useful machines and there's no reason why we shouldn't have more than one in service. I like these engines and I hope to see all of the static ones work once more.

Hurry up!

The Bluebell Railway has only one petrol locomotive, as you may already know, and it is virtually complete, apart from a few pieces. WHY DON'T THEY HURRY UP AND GET IT WORKING?! It's as complete as B473, and she returns in December, so they could focus a bit more effort on 957 (the petrol loco) and run in TWO engines at Christmas. Then the team working on 957 could be amalgamated with the Villa Team and they could work on Baxter. Exciting stuff, eh?

4073 Caerphilly Castle

She's just waiting to shine...

She was the first Castle ever, she's stuffed and mounted pretty much permanently, it's the one and only 4073 Caerphilly Castle! I'm quite curious about a few things concerning this loco though. When did she last steam? Has she worked in preservation? If so, where was it? Thing is, I'd love to see her work. I can just imagine her storming down the main line, possibly double heading with either another Castle, a Hall or even a King.

Stamford

Could someone please tell me WHY DID THE BLUEBELL RAILWAY BUY STAMFORD? It's industrial, which doesn't fit in with their collection, apparently (Err, do Baxter and Sharpthorn ring any bells?). Plus, she's at the perfect home (the Rutland Railway Museum though she's off site right now) with the perfect environment, but the Bluebell don't even wanna think about selling Stamford for some imaginary reason, it seems. Why don't they sell Stamford and use the money on one of their many projects? If she's sold to the Rutland it's a bonus, 'cos there's no transport costs involved, but if I were the Bluebell I would just sell her at the first (reasonable) chance.

P.S. Since posting Stamford has moved on site at the Rutland-28/05/10

Yankies rock!

Let's hope that we'll see this again one day...

I'm a rather large fan of S160s, but there's currently only one you can see in steam here(5197), and if you want to see any more then you'll need a plane ticket and enough excitement about S160s to fly to the USA (1702) or Hungary (3540, though she's not got a boiler licence). Come on, does no-one wanna buy 2253 at the NYMR? Or should we herd some more volunteers to South Coast Steam in Portland to work on 3278, or to the Churnet Valley Railway to work on 6046? We could even take a stab at the GCR(N)'s 1631, or finish off Big Jim at Keighley. Let's try and aim for two operational Yankies in the future. What's your opinion?

Superb Steamers

I don't know about you, but my top three loco classes and locos are, in order

1. SR U class, 31625
2. SECR P class, 27
3. SECR H class, 263 (obviously!)

I am practically a Southern LOVER!!! What about you? Are you adamant about about A4s? Or are you raving about Kings? Tell me what you think.

Setting a Standard

The Bluebell Railway has 7 standard engines (92240, 75027, 73082, 80151, 80100, 80064, 84030) and out of all of them only one is operating (80151) and two more (73082 and 84030) are on the way. The rest are all 'stuffed and mounted'. Will 92240 be overhauled in the next five years? Will we witness the return of 80064 in the next fifteen years? Or is 80100 ever going to steam again? Again, please comment, thanks.

Caledonian Railway

With a bit of TLC this could be the future of the Caley Railway

I dunno about you but I personally think that the Caledonian Railway only needs more volunteers and more galas to become a really successful small railway. It has loads of locos that could be restored to be really practical runners, two stations that given the right attention could look beautiful and a museum that could be extended to contain a cosmetically restored loco. What do you think? Please comment, thanks

Great sites!

I know some great websites that you may or may not be familiar with, but are updated every so often and have great info!

Bluebell Railway

Watercress Line Latest News

Severn Valley Railway Engineering

First trip to the Bluebell

Hey there, welcome to my blog! I recently made my first trip to the Bluebell Railway, and boy was it fab! I rode behind two locos, got to stand on the footplate of U class 1638 and made a video tour of the Locomotive Shed, however the Loco Works weren't open. Still, not to worry! I had a brill day all in all, 'cos I live in a faraway land and am a huge Bluebell fan See ya!