Good show at the SVR, September 2019

The Thursday and Friday of the SVR Autumn Steam Gala were warm and sunny. We met up with friends for the first two days of the event, starting with a leisurely lunch at the Mug House in Bewdley, outside in the sunshine.

Spam can, City of Wells, was visiting from the East Lancashire Railway, as were the Bluebell Railway’s ex-SR Q Class and the Standard Class 4 from the Mid-Hants Railway. We also took in the Railart Exhibition at the railway museum at Kidderminster station and Rob Rowland’s excellent one-man art show, in the waiting room at Bridgnorth station.

The SVR is my favourite heritage railway. The valley scenery is very attractive and the event itself is always well organised and a pleasure to attend. Bewdley station has a commanding setting and is a hive of activity during gala days, with three well used platforms and the stabling point siding accommodating as many as four steam locomotives at a time.

Kyle of Lochalsh

Kyle of Lochalsh station was opened by the Highland Railway in 1897 as an extension of the line between Inverness and the former terminus at Stromeferry. These two photos were taken forty-six years apart. Today, there is a modest railway museum within the old station building. Although there are only a few trains a day and they are all two coach units, they are well used and the station is a hive of activity for relatively short bursts around arrival and departure times.

Its position is stunning, of course, with the Island of Skye as the backdrop. When we first went there it was by ferry, but a modern bridge and an improved main road now whisk you to the heart of the mountains at Sligachan, affording views of the comparatively smooth surfaced Red Cuillins to the left and the very different, jagged-peaked Black Cuillins to the right. We took the road through the pass to Loch Eynort and interrupted a trio of young golden eagles exploring their territory at a lower height than they are often seen, following a wooded ravine cut into the mountain side next to the narrow road.

Duirinish

We cycled through the woods at Achrianderact, a good spot for pine martins, we were told, though we didn’t see any. After morning coffee at the excellent Croft café, a converted barn on the outskirts of the next village, we made our way carefully over the level crossing and cattle grid at Duirinish station in time to see the 12.16 departure for Inverness. The road took us down to Pointneora, a good spot for otters we were told, though we didn’t see any of them, though the scenery was breath taking. Luckily we did not see any bulls roaming free and blocking our route.

Plockton

The first train of the day, the 11.17 to Kyle of Lochalsh, approaches the single platform at Plockton. The train left Inverness at 8.55 but surely most passengers won’t have minded the lengthy journey through some of Highland Scotland’s finest scenery, with even the chance of a fleeting glimpse of a sea eagle or an otter along the way.


The Highland Railway station was opened in 1897 when the line was extended to Kyle from the former terminus at Stromeferry. The original station building is a protected structure which became a restaurant before its current use as self-catering accommodation.

Bilsthorpe Colliery Branch

This is where the branch line for coal trains from Bilsthorpe colliery [1928-1997] to Mansfield Concentration Sidings, west of Clipstone Forest, crossed the main A614 road. It is now part of national cycleway 6, which skirts Clipstone Forest, once part of the original Sherwood Forest. Bilsthorpe was linked by rail to Ollerton to the north, MCS to the west and Farnsfield to the south. This latter section is now also a cycleway and an extension to the Southwell Trail.

We have cycled from home to Sherwood Pines Forest Park visitor centre and tearoom three times and somehow failed to find the quickest route there on each occasion. This is because there is no signpost on the cycleway indicating at what stage you should leave the old railway route to strike north through the forest via the many possible forest tracks, nor are there any obvious signs in the forest once you are there that lead you directly to the centre, though there are plenty which guide their own cycling routes within the area. This strikes me as a little unhelpful and certainly not indicative of joined up thinking between the cycleway and forest park authorities.

A Standard day at Loughborough

On duty yesterday on the GCR was BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0 No. 73156, looking and sounding in very good nick. She was built in 1956 in Doncaster works but ended up at Barry scrapyard in the mid-1960s before being rescued and restored.

Ah Hah, Jim Lad!

The Black Pearl pirate ship looked as good as ever at the weekend; an amazing, spontaneous community project made of driftwood and run aground at New Brighton. She certainly had an enthusiastic crew on board. No pressed men amongst that lot.

A care home now stands where we remember Mother Redcaps from our youth, a little further along the promenade, with its tales of smuggling and underground passages for the distribution of contraband. When my great grandfather took his photo about 115 years ago it was known as Mr Kitchinman’s house.

Chris’s great, great, great grandfather, William Henry Thorpe, was Master of the Princes Landing Stage in Liverpool during the mid-nineteenth century, overseeing the comings and goings of ocean-going vessels, including, no doubt, coffin ships which were knowingly in poor condition, overloaded and over-insured. They were thus more valuable to their owners if they sunk.