Oscar46016
Member
Has to be my first Western trip after 1977 at the Dartmouth - can't remember the date but it was so good to see the Westerns back in action.
Must have been amazing to be riding in an LNER teak coach, headed by an A4 too.Going to the SVR on my birthday, riding behind Bittern in a Gresley teak coach in the Spring sunshine.
Visiting the NRM for the first time in 10+ years, at the Railfest 2012 event. Was obsessed with Mallard as a little boy and this was the first time coming back as a so-called adult, was a bit emotional seeing her again.
The Barrow Hill 'rarities' gala in 2015 (?) was a great concept, seeing a Warship and 68001 was great, as well as the real fun to be had at Barrow Hill - seeing all the random locos dotted about and lined up.
Also in 2012 I was stuck between doing the Gresty Bridge Open Day or riding behind 50035 in its LoadHaul livery on the SVR - decided to do both! Mad dash around Gresty Bridge, practically ran back up the Gresty Road to Crewe station, train down to Smethwick Galton Bridge, then off to Kidderminster, got onto the SVR just as 035 was running round its train - magic.
Last time I properly did an SVR diesel gala was 2017/18, still impressed at the sheer numbers of locos they would squeeze into the diagrams - almost as many mainline guests as there were home fleet locos.
Reminds me of visiting the line in 1990 for the Carol Train, and seeing and hearing the loco lift a full train out of Keighley....Early in my career at KWVR, fellow volunteers wedding evening train, seeing the fire light the smoke up in the sky, the gas lit stations on a perfectly clear August evening. Absolutely magical, never seen a steam engine at night before that point and I still remember it very vividly.
Yes, I would like to do a Sunday Lunch train on the NYMR too.The best visit for me was GCR, a couple of years ago on a grey and drizzly September morning with a rover ticket.
Got on at Rothley behind Repton on the first train which was still there after a gala, to Leicester then all the way back to Loughborough.
Breakfast and a mooch around Loughborough then down to Woodhouse on I think a DMU, cup of tea there.
Then back to Loughborough behind Repton again, before finishing the day back to Rothley behind a C50 diesel.
The day ticket for 18 quid was great value and there always seems to be something to see at Loughborough between trains.
2nd best experience the Moorlander at North Yorks, was a real treat eating a roast dinner on the Pullman coach Robin
I hate to be a killjoy, but visits to heritage lines don't usually do a lot for me. Riding at 25mph behind a West Country or a Black 5 isn't very exciting when you are old enough to remember the real thing! I like best the ones which use small engines in character with the lines they run on - the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, for example. But my best memory is a visit to the Ffestiniog way back in the 1960s at the age of about 15 - I ended up doing some ad-hoc volunteering, getting filthy cleaning "Merddyn Emrys" and helping to drag the hulk of "Palmerston" out of Glan y Mor yard. Now that was fun!
Do you mind me asking about the Embsay experience?we tend to visit a lot of preservation sites up and down the country and will now definitely go back to the EOR whereas we’ve had terrible experiences at both the ELR and Embsay and I definitely would not go back to the latter.
Not just locos but carriages as well. A pity places like the IOWSR are so few. "Heritage" does not match "Formica at all.I hate to be a killjoy, but visits to heritage lines don't usually do a lot for me. Riding at 25mph behind a West Country or a Black 5 isn't very exciting when you are old enough to remember the real thing! I like best the ones which use small engines in character with the lines they run on - the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, for example. But my best memory is a visit to the Ffestiniog way back in the 1960s at the age of about 15 - I ended up doing some ad-hoc volunteering, getting filthy cleaning "Merddyn Emrys" and helping to drag the hulk of "Palmerston" out of Glan y Mor yard. Now that was fun!
Yes, that is a great line. Almost a main line railway really, in so far as it's length and that some trains did or do still go to Whitby on the main line for a few miles.I am going to put the North York’s moors - Pickering start.