Statfold Barn

I've only been to the Statfold Barn Railway, a treasure trove of narrow gauge railways very close to where i live, once before. They held an enthusiasts weekend this weekend so i thought it was high time i returned. The weather was great too, unlike my previous visit in 2019 when it was rather moist, and i enjoyed rides on steam trains, a tram and heritage buses. A superb place and a superb day, you can see my photos here.

SVR Diesel Gala 2022

Yesterday i attended the Severn Valley Railway Diesel Gala, one of the highlights of the year. This year did not disappoint, with me managing to see everything i wanted to (though the last thing on the list appeared literally minutes before i had to leave!) A great day was had watching (and travelling behind) old diesel locomotives. A perfect day apart from the mild sunburn! You can see my photos here.

Kingsway tram tunnel

As with the diesel gala on Friday, something else i haven't done for a long time was go on a Hidden London tour of usually closed parts of London's transport heritage. That changed on Saturday when i went to London and explored the now-disused Kingsway tram tunnel. Although not as interesting as some of the other Hidden London tours such as Charing Cross and Aldwych, it was still great to do another the things i did often before covid. You can see my photos here.

Great Central Railway

Yesterday I returned to Loughborough and made a proper visit to the Great Central Railway which runs between Loughborough and Leicester North. I visited all four stations on the line including Quorn & Woodhouse and Rothley. It was highly enjoyable travelling through this part of Leicestershire, the GCR is one of the best preserved railway lines around and my first visit was long overdue! You can see my photos here.

Clapham South shelter

Today i headed down to London for another Hidden London tour, this time the former air raid shelters at Clapham South. Eight of these deep level shelters (Clapham South is 11 stories down) were built to protect people in the WW2 Blitz though by the time they were completed the Blitz was over - however they were used to shelter people during the V-1 and V-2 attacks on London later in the war.

Postwar they were used as cheap hotel accommodation and temporary housing for recently arrived immigrants. In recent years they have been used for document storage but nowadays the Clapham South shelter is just used for tours. A very good tour it was too, though the 180 steps to climb back up the surface did test me! You can see my photos here.

North West Museum of Road Transport

Today i headed up to the North West, to St Helens to be exact, to visit the North West Museum of Road Transport. Now this really is my kind of place, basically a big shed crammed full of old buses, other heritage vehicles and other ephemera. Highly recommended. It reminded me of the Aston Manor museum thats now sadly gone (though relocated to another town, i must visit that one day).

You can see my photos here. A number of buses were Leyland Nationals including those of Chase Buses which i used to see around Birmingham a few years ago.

55 Broadway (Hidden London)

Another Hidden London tour, however this one i wasn't 100% sure about when i booked it earlier in the year. 55 Broadway is the headquarters of Transport for London so it was a tour of an office block not railway tunnels or a disused station. An old office block mind you, 55 Broadway was the first skyscraper built in London back in the late 1920s but still... an office block. Would this be as interesting as say Charing Cross or Aldwych?

I needn't have worried, the tour was fantastic. Maybe even the best Hidden London i've been on yet! 55 Broadway is a wonderful building in the Modernist style with Art Deco flourishes. If i could choose an office to work in it would be here. The views from the roof of central London were also fantastic. I highly recommend this tour when they run it again next year. You can see my photos here.

Smethwick Rolfe Street

This weekend hundreds of places across the country are opening as part of the Heritage Open Day Weekend, one of them was Smethwick Rolfe Street. There was an interesting display in a former waiting room of the station's history and the platform mural is particularly fine. The Victorian station itself is still largely in good condition. You can see my photos here.

A trip to Stratford

To have a break from all the railway stuff just for a moment... i went to Stratford-upon-Avon yesterday. Of course the town is very familiar to me, my dissertation of my History Masters was on the economic effects of the horse drawn tramway on the town - at one stage i was going to Stratford nearly every week to go to the archives.

I don't go very often now, maybe once or twice a year. Yesterday i was taking a family friend from overseas on their first trip to the town, it was nice to do a bit of "touristy" stuff for once especially at the church of the Holy Trinity where Shakespeare is buried.

York (2) : NRM Shildon

Going to the National Railway Museum's other site at Shildon was in fact the main reason i came up to York for a couple of days. While York is doable from Birmingham for a day Shildon is just that much further that doing it in a day is a bit marginal. So i've had to put off coming to NRM Shildon until now.

It was well worth the wait, the collection at Shildon is amazing and includes the likes of the APT-E and the iconic Deltic prototype. My favourite locomotive on display however was the North Eastern electric shunter. One of the very first railway books i bought in the mid-1980s was on electric locomotives and the North Eastern loco was in it and i looked forward to a time i could see it for real. Maybe i didn't think it would take quite so long to finally achieve this dream! You can see my NRM Shildon photos here.

"Project Commuter" Class 414 to be restored

North Eastern electric shunter, seen at last!

APT-E

Deltic

Winston Churchill

APT-E logo

Multiple Memories

Today i attended the Multiple Memories gala event dedicated to diesel multiple units on the wonderful Ecclesbourne Valley Railway (EVR). I always enjoy my visits to the EVR which is one of my favourite heritage lines.

A special guest this year amid the usual heritage DMUs and railcars was a Class 153 from East Midlands Trains, an interesting sight in places like Idridgehay and Wirksworth. I enjoyed my trip back down the line aboard it too. You can see my photos from the gala here.