UK Visit to Mid-Hants & Swanage Railways

[RobertInOntario]

My family & I have just returned from spending Christmas with my wife's family in southern England. We managed to get two steam railway visits in ! :mrgreen:

The first one was on Dec. 21 at the Mid-Hants Railway (watercressline.co.uk) on a Santa train. In these pics you can see the large, green 5MT 4-6-0. The Mid-Hants Railway is less than 8 miles from my in-law's house in Winchester so it's very easy to get to. :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
(I also saw a fleeting glimpse of the newly-restored steamlined A4 pacific, Bittern, at their engine shed -- I was frustrated that I didn't have a chance to stop and look at it in detail! :cry

The second visit was to the Swanage Railway (swanagerailway.co.uk) on Dec. 31 in Dorset in SW England. Here, an M7 0-4-4 tank engine was running. We enjoyed the awesome scenery and seeing the ruins of Corfe Castles which is high on a hilltop.

Both trips were great and I strongly recommend both railways if you're ever able to visit southern England!

Rob

This is the green 5MT at Alresford Station, the Santa Train on Dec. 21.




This is the M7 Tank engine at Swanage Station with yours truly and my youngest son on the platform.



The M7 photographed from the coach immediately behind it.



Here's the M7 shunting at the other end of the railway.

 

[Renovo PPR]

Real cool, it has some of the same lines as the Lionel HE.

 

[Meiriongwril]

Sounds like a great trip Robert.
I'm off to UK over Easter and have plans for a narrow-gauge fest! Lynton and Barnstaple in Devon, Corris and Welsh Highland in north Wales.

 

[cnw1995]

Just finished Railway Adventure, a tale of the first two years of the Tallylyn (sp) Railway by one of its society's founders. What an evocative and encouraging read. Enjoy your narrow gauge jaunt. Look forward to hearing about it when you return.

 

[RobertInOntario]

Sounds like a great trip Robert.
I'm off to UK over Easter and have plans for a narrow-gauge fest! Lynton and Barnstaple in Devon, Corris and Welsh Highland in north Wales.

Thanks -- I'm jealous, of course, as we had such a good time in December. Please take lots of pics! All the best, Rob

 

[Meiriongwril]

Hi Robert -
herewith some photos of WHR (Caernarfon) - with K1 as motive power

 

[RobertInOntario]

Hi Robert -
herewith some photos of WHR (Caernarfon) - with K1 as motive power

Thanks ! Great pics and the scenery is awesome! What does WHR stand for? I should know but it doesn't ring a bell.
Thanks again, Rob

 

[nkp174]

I'm feeling envious I've my fellow rail fans...not cool :mrgreen:

Today I watched some time lapse photography of the trip from London (London Bridge I believe, since it didn't pass the Battersea Power station) to Brighton.

I visited NRM, 2 heritage railways, and caught one mainline excursion last year in while in England. Here's a picture of a 9F on a heritage railway and a Black 5 on the Newquay branch in Cornwall...

 

[RobertInOntario]

I'm feeling envious I've my fellow rail fans...not cool :mrgreen:
I visited NRM, 2 heritage railways, and caught one mainline excursion last year in while in England. Here's a picture of a 9F on a heritage railway and a Black 5 on the Newquay branch in Cornwall...

Wow -- sounds great! Both are awesome pix! NRM is on my list for our planned UK trip in 2009! Hopefully, I'll get to 1-2 other heritage railways in Yorkshire as well.
Thanks for posting these.
Rob

 

[nkp174]

Both are awesome pix! NRM is on my list for our planned UK trip in 2009!

Thanks Rob! Thanks to both of you for posting pictures as well.

At the NRM, I made a point to take a picture of every locomotive on display. Unfortunately, a number of them are blurry. The hall with the royal trains is very un-camera friendly.

For getting to and from York, don't forget about the possibility of riding the trains! We departed on GNER's then current incarnation of the Flying Scotsman...and it was cool.

 

[Meiriongwril]

Thanks ! Great pics and the scenery is awesome! What does WHR stand for? I should know but it doesn't ring a bell.
Thanks again, Rob

It stands for 'Welsh Highland Railway'. There are in fact 2 organiziations with similar titles. The WHR (Caernarfon) are owned by the Ffestiniog Railway and are buidling from Carnarfon to Porthmadog (over 20 miles); should be complete this summer.
The much smaller WHR (Porthmadog) runs mainly heritage trains over a stretch of a few miles from a different station in Porthmadog, but will link into the longer railway for occasional trips to stations near Snowdon.

Here are some more photos from that trip.

 

[Meiriongwril]

I'm also a member of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway - a two foot gauge railway in North Devon aiming to rebuild the 20 odd miles of that line that closed in the 30s.
Unfortunately my camera wasn't working on my Easter trip, but here are some pics from other sources

 

[RobertInOntario]

Thanks Rob! Thanks to both of you for posting pictures as well.
At the NRM, I made a point to take a picture of every locomotive on display. Unfortunately, a number of them are blurry. The hall with the royal trains is very un-camera friendly.
For getting to and from York, don't forget about the possibility of riding the trains! We departed on GNER's then current incarnation of the Flying Scotsman...and it was cool.

Thanks as well. BTW, is the NRM mainly a static museum display, or can you go for steam train rides while you're there as well?

I've seen pics of GNER's current Flying Scotsman. I think it was called "The Route of The Flying Scotsman." It was a black, electric locomotive in the GNER livery.

Rob

 

[RobertInOntario]

Thanks for posting those pics, Meirion, as well as for the additional info! I don't belong to any UK-based railway societies but am thinking of joining one of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway ones or joining the Mid-Hants Railway (which is only about 7 miles from my in-law's house in Hampshire).

Next year, we're thinking of visiting Devon as well as going up to the NRM in York!

Cheers,
Rob