First visit to the Watercress Line 2013 part 2 – Ropley

Last Sunday, after exploring Alton (click here to read that article) I dropped into Ropley. As ever, there was much going on there;

First visit to the Watercress Line 2013 – Chasing a Schools Class and Exploring Alton

December 2012 was an excellent steam-filled month, with three visits to the Watercress Line, two mainline tours and a visit to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway (see the Steam Diary to read more). With the exception of a visit to Eastleigh’s miniature railway (click here to read), January has been much quieter, but today’s…

Model of the Week – Fairburn 4MT 42096

Today we start a new weekly series of blog posts, that look at the model’s in the Locoyard collection, to link to a new web page. These are not model reviews, but a reflection on the prototype’s that are represented, to link the models with the real thing. We start the series with what is…

Stanier 8F 2-8-0 8624 at Loughborough 2011

In November last year, a few pictures taken of 4953 Pitchford Hall were published, today we (finally!) complete looking at the brief visit to Loughborough in 2011.

Bad Weather!

Today’s Bad Weather has given a good excuse to publish a few pictures taken in 2011 of Ropley on the Watercress Line, in terrible weather conditions. Rather than snow, it was torrential rain on the day which made for some great

Black 5 – 45428 Eric Treacy – NYMR (Whitby)

Tonight we go back to 2011 to see ex-LMS Black 5 class 45428 at Whitby about to begin pulling the “Yorkshire Coast Express” to Pickering. This locomotive is named after the famous railway photographer

Bachmann SDJR 7F 2-8-0 Class Review

There have been almost two months of teasers that this model would be reviewed soon – so here it is – the S&DJR Bachmann 7F 2-8-0!

Hornby GNR/LNER Gresley N2 class DCC Fitting Guide

Following the review of Hornby’s 00 scale recreation of GNR/LNER Gresley’s N2 class; today we look at how to fit a DCC chip to the DCC Ready version.

Bachmann LNER A1 class (60163 Tornado) DCC Fitting Guide

After reading many posts from different people on model rail forums, I approached the DCC installation of the Bachmann A1 class with a little trepidation. I’m happy to report that

Baby Nellie!

2013’s first entry in the Steam Diary is not the most glamorous, but real steam nevertheless! Eastleigh’s Lakeside Steam Railway is a dual gauge 10¼”/7¼” line that runs from “Eastleigh Parkway” station (which incidentally has a fantastic cafe)