Churches (29) : St Michael & All Angels, Beaconsfield

St Michael & All Angels is an early twentieth century church built in the New Town area of Beaconsfield. The Old Town of Beaconsfield has existed since at least the early Norman period but the New Town was built about a mile to the North of the original town at the end of the nineteenth century when the railway reached Beaconsfield.

St Michael & All Angels was built in 1914 [1] though because of the First World War original plans for the church including a spire and sanctuary were never realised. A nave and aisles were built in Kentish ragstone in the Decorated style.

A sanctuary was finally built in the 1950s and a lady chapel in the 1960s.

[1] Nikolaus Pevsner, Buckinghamshire (Penguin, 1960) p. 62

Hello again to Henley-in-Arden

Yesterday I visited Barnt Green for the first time in a number of years, today I did the same to Henley-in-Arden which I last visited way back in 2012. My first visit was memorable as I made the mistake of climbing the hill that overlooks the town not thinking that as it was muddy it might be tricky coming down again. I slipped and fell in my arse in the mud! Luckily there were no mishaps this time.

Some things haven't changed, some buildings haven't changed much in the town since the Middle Ages to be honest, but the station has changed a bit since my last visit so it was good to update my images. You can see my Henley-in-Arden photos here.

Back to Barnt Green

A number of years ago, after a few months of working in Worcester and commuting by train every day, my interest in railways was reawakened. It had lain dormant for a number of years, though I did read the occasional magazine to keep reasonably up to date, but the spark was back and so now it was time to start making trips on a train to take some photos! The very first trip I made was to Barnt Green, and today I returned to update my photos.

I also had a walk around the village which is near to the Lickey Hills. It is a nice area just inside Worcestershire. You can see today's photos here.

Departing Long Buckby

Heading to London Euston.

BGLR : Short form

This week on the BGLR I have been experimenting with shorter passenger trains. Apart from the philosophical question about whether a single carriage constitutes a "train" or not some of these shorter trains have been tried and work out pretty well. The push-pull unit is a single coach of course though as it's quite a bit longer it doesn't look quite as modest as a single Roco coach as shown below.

The BGLR is a small layout so shorter trains are the norm anyway, a single coach train is a perfect length. Obviously one day I'd love a much bigger layout and have lengthy trains of six or more coaches but until then...