In a change to the scheduled post, tonight I wanted to share with my followers my first proper look of recently restored Schools class 925 Cheltenham, that I was fortunate to catch today in a rather sunny Ropley loco yard. Restored to working order in Eastleigh works (the locomotive’s birthplace) in just two years; it…
Continuing from last Saturday’s post is the final chapter of part 7 in my journey in becoming a steam enthusiast. I hope all locoyard followers will enjoy these photographs! Todays post begins in Minehead and then follows 43xx Class 7325 and Castle Class 7029 Clun Castle double-heading to Bishops Lydeard. Post thread continues – click…
Having already written a blog post about the official Thomas the Tank engine, I thought it was about time I put together a blog post about another famous steam engine from fiction. This is of course, no other than Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express! Although named Hogwart’s Castle in the books and films, the locomotive that…
Following on from my previous post, this is one of the final of this series of memories and a fantastic one at that! One of my most fond steam memories from my younger years came from a visit to the West Somerset Railway when it was celebrating its 21st anniversary in March 1997. An incredible…
During last week’s visit to Didcot Railway Centre, British Standard 7MT 70000 Britannia was not the only locomotive in steam. On another demonstration line, pulling an auto-coach was GWR black liveried 8750 class pannier tank 3738. This locomotive was operated from “Didcot Halt”, a faithful recreation of a GWR branchline. A Great Western themed attraction would not be complete without…
One simple reason for the steam enthusiast to want to visit the Great Western Society at Didcot Railway Centre is fairly simple – it houses the largest collection of GWR loco’s and rolling stock in Britain. Last Sunday’s blog post looked at the Didcot site and as promised we will now look inside the engine…
The London Brighton and South Coast Railway’s A1/A1X terrier is a popular locomotive class for Southern region modellers. Nicknamed terriers because of their small size; relative power and the locomotive’s terrier like bark; they were to be found in use from 1872 into late BR days. Their light weight made them indispensible on light branch lines, including…
It’s always the way; you wait for an article featuring a certain locomotive and then several come at once! Featured last Saturday (click here) was an article on the Nene Valley Railway and several shots of BR standard 7MT class 70000. They were taken in 1997, the last time I saw the locomotive in action until this Wednesday. …
A quick catch-up tonight from Locoyard to show that it has, as promised, gone back in time to the 1930 – 1940’s. A bit of an unlikely mix of liveries to be fair, with a combination of Maunsell’s olive-green and Bulleid’s malachite green with sunshine lettering. The malachite green in particular has brightened the layout and indeed the room…
Following my previous post about the official Thomas the Tank engine on the Nene Valley Railway, I wanted to share a few more pictures taken. The railway was and still is home to some European locomotives that make the collection very unique in the UK (to be found in the next post in this series,…
Loco Yard 