A reminder…

As the shortest day approaches I like to remind myself of longer days and better weather.

This is another shot from the North Norfolk Railway and shows recent arrival at the NNR, London & North Eastern Railway class B1 4-6-0 61306 MAYFLOWER approaching Dead Man's bridge with the 12.00 departure from Sheringham on 12 September.

An absolutely gorgeous day with a calm sea that was hopefully causing no problems for the Sheringham Coastwatch coastal surveillance station that is just visible on the clifftop above the rear of the fourth carriage.

MAYFLOWER had changed hands in August 2014, being bought by Berkshire enthusiast David Buck from the Boden family who'd owned it since 1967. Built after nationalisation in 1948 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, 61306 carries the name originally bestowed on classmate 61379.

A railway related pint - The M&GN Bar

'Muddle and Go Nowhere Bar' beer mat, 12/04/14

I've mentioned my fondness for combining railways and real ale before and that combination was my other reason for my second visit in two days to the North Norfolk Railway a couple of weekends ago.

The 'Muddle and Go Nowhere* Bar' is housed in a beautifully restored London & North Eastern Railway Gresley Buffet Car (b.1937, York) currently turned out in British Railways crimson and cream livery and carrying the number E9128E.

The 'Muddle and Go Nowhere Bar' Gresley Buffet Car E9128E, 12/04/14

The car is expected to be running during special events at the NNR and a number of other weekends besides, provisional details of which can be found on the M&GN Joint Railway Society website here.

It being an out of season visit only one real ale was available on draught, 'Wolf Ale' from Norfolk's own Wolf Brewery at Besthorpe near Attleborough and after what I can only describe as 'extensive tests' I can report that it's a delicious, copper coloured brew with just the right amount of hops (Goldings and Challenger, should you be curious) resulting in what I'd call 'a proper pint' and I'm certainly looking forward to sampling more Wolf Brewery beers in the future.

* The phrase 'Muddle & Go Nowhere' was an affectionate nickname bestowed on the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway as a result of its route serving mostly rural areas of Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

A Norfolk Ramble, part 2 - North Norfolk Railway

As usual, a trip to Norfolk means a visit to the North Norfolk Railway, easily one of my favourite heritage lines.

The warm weather had certainly brought plenty of visitors and even the first train of the day (the 09.45 from Sheringham-Holt) was pretty full. NNR stalwart 8572 (a London & North Eastern Railway B12 class 4-6-0) had no problems with its train of four coaches and one parcels van though.

LNER B12 class 4-6-0 8572 runs round its train at Holt, 11/04/14

The NNR is home to all sorts of beautifully restored items, from locomotives, carriages and buildings right down to this set of fire buckets, complete with Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway cast sign.

Fire buckets at Sheringham station, 11/04/14

A return visit was made the following day (more on this later) as I was hoping to photograph BR Standard class 4MT 2-6-0 76084 in action (I'd missed getting a shot of it the day before) but it wasn't to be… Great Northern Railway N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 (visiting from the Great Central Railway) was out and about instead.

GNR N2 class 0-6-2T 1744 departs Weybourne with the 13.44 service to Holt, 12/04/14

I thoroughly recommend a visit to the North Norfolk Railway if you're in the area, I'd even go as far as to say make a special trip if not! The combination of steam, sea views and (if you're lucky) sunshine really is unbeatable!

Guess where I've been…

p.54 of Preserved Locomotives of British Railways (15th ed.)
Reproduced here with permission from Platform 5 Publishing Ltd.

That's right, I went to 'The Great Gathering' at the National Railway Museum in York yesterday. Just as the opportunity to see Mallard at Grantham was too good to miss so was the chance to see all six preserved A4 locomotives together in one place.

Temporarily repatriated (from the U.S.A. and Canada respectively) as part of the celebration of MALLARD's world speed record in 1938, 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (the former 4496) and 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA were on display along with the four A4s that are usually based at various locations around the UK. Yesterday was the last chance to see all six together in York but one further event is scheduled for February 2014 at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon in Co. Durham.

The Great Gathering, 11/11/13, larger version here.

From left-right are:60007 SIR NIGEL GRESLEY, 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, 60009 UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 4464 BITTERN, 4468 MALLARD and 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA.

If you're wondering how I managed a shot with no people in the way (Dad has already asked me this) then I must mention the 'Exclusive Access Mornings' that the NRM organised at a very reasonable £15 per person that were limited to 50 people per two-hour session. The NRM staff also recommended that everybody take their photographs from the turntable before wandering amongst the exhibits and getting in each others' way. Some distortion is evident in the above shot thanks to the ultra-wide angle 18mm lens (on a full-frame digital SLR camera) that I had to use to get all six locomotives in one shot but I can live with that.

The Great Gathering, 4464 BITTERN, 4468 MALLARD & 4489 DOMINION OF CANADA, 11/11/13

The Great Gathering, 60007 SIR NIGEL GRESLEY, 60008 DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
& 60009 UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, 11/11/13

I must thank Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. for allowing me to reproduce part of their Preserved Locomotives of British Railways book. I realised today that I've been buying Platform 5 spotting books for almost 30 years now so must definitely qualify as a satisfied customer.

Mallard at Grantham

LNER A4 class 4-6-2, 4468 MALLARD, 7/9/13

You may have noticed by now that I tend to photograph and write about the less 'mainstream' aspects of railways… It's not that I'm not interested in the mainstream, I'm just more interested in the weird and wonderful, the obscure and the forgotten…

That said, I couldn't pass up the chance of seeing the legendary London & North Eastern Railway A4 class 4-6-2 steam loco 4468 MALLARD when it was recently on display at Grantham as the centrepiece of the 'MALLARD the story of speed' exhibition commemorating the 75th anniversary of the world speed record of 125.88mph that MALLARD achieved on July 3 1938 on the slight downward grade of Stoke Bank just south of Grantham.

I arrived when the event was still over an hour away from opening to the public but there was no shortage of people lining up to poke their cameras through the fence to get photos in superb weather conditions!

The National Railway Museum have to be congratulated for allowing such an important exhibit as this to be displayed in this manner and I can only hope more such instances will follow… Anyone for the Midland Railway "Spinner" 4-2-2 No.118 at Derby station?