HILLINGDON RAILWAY MODELLERS OPEN DAY -- SAT 31st OCTOBER

http://www.hillingdonrailwaymodellers.co.uk/

Looking forward to another open day at Hillingdon Railway Modellers being held on Saturday 31st October, so bring your best Halloween models. 

Will have a few smaller items in the bag to try out as it's always a busy day and doors open to the public at 10:00am. 


Yiewsley Baptist Church
74 Colham Avenue
West Drayton
UB7 8HF


* the entrance is at the side of the church down a path and the doors at the end should be open, don't try and enter the main doors of the church. 

Owing to rental costs of the hall there is a cover charge of £4 but there will be two extensive O Gauge and OO Gauge Test Tracks available and have recently added a three track N Gauge (Pic Below) up and running so if you have anything you wish to see get a good run do please come along.

N GAUGE TEST TRACK 

There will be refreshments available, the bacon rolls are highly recommended. There is an entrance fee of £4 to cover the cost of using the hall for the day. 

It should be stressed that these ARE NOT exhibitions, so bring your own locos and rolling stock to run. At busy times we may have to introduce time slots so that everyone can get a chance to operate their stock. Here's a short clip of one of the earlier open days YouTube LINK

Below you can see a busy picture of their 8 road yard in O Gauge it's a very extensive track and will give your models a very good run. 
 

HOW TO GET THERE:
If you are Travelling by Car

Check here for Parking Options.

Nearest Railway Stations :

West Drayton [0.34 miles]

WEEKEND AWAY TO SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY PART TWO

www.svr.co.uk

The second part of our trip on the Severn Valley Railway finds us arriving into Bridgnorth and taking in the wonderful views of the town and the peaceful banks of the river itself, time for a spot of lunch and then a relaxing journey back to Kidderminster. 

It's a 16+ mile trip following the river for most of the way and well worth a visit, even if you not a fan of heritage steam railways, the scenery and beauty of this region is worth it. 

Leaving Bridgnorth SVR station you find yourself high above town with good views of the River Severn itself, a walk around the footbridge and down the incline sets us up nicely for a Sunday afternoon lunch down by the river. 

After a relaxing walk by the river and spot of lunch we need to think about heading back to the station for the return journey, however I don't fancy the steep walk back up so am thankful that the good people of Bridgnorth in 1892 saw fit to build this.

<<<

Bridgnorth Cliff Railway 

The Bridgnorth Cliff Railway is a funicular railway linking the Low Town of Bridgnorth, adjacent to the River Severn, with the High Town, adjacent to the ruins of Bridgnorth Castle.

It is one of the steepest railways in the country, and at least one source (the information panel outside the top station) claims it is both the steepest and shortest, capable of carrying 18 passengers at a time up/down a height of 111 feet. 

The journey may only take a little over a minute, but sure saves a steep walk up the lanes to arrive back to the summit. 

A VIEW FROM THE TOP

A short walk back to the SVR and time to have a look around the station area, if there's one down side to this heritage site it's that there's not a lot of access to see other loco's and stock on show, some of it is parked up in the station but out of reach to the casual visitor. 

For instance why they have this here I do not know, get it on display or undercover, why it's surrounded by a pile of bricks?

The "Catch me who can" was built by Richard Trevithick locally some 200 years ago and this is clearly an attempt at a replica but it's just left out in the yard so at least put it on display and not leave exposed to the elements? 

 Similarly this apparently is the SVR attempt to build a "new" locomotive, a Class 3MT 2-6-2 Tank none of the originals survived so this is a unique opportunity, not on the scale of the Tornado project, but has some similarities. 

Found more information on this project at this site - http://www.82045.org.uk/

The Diesel shed at Kidderminster, the yard here at Bridgnorth. I know they have the "Engine Shed" at Highley but we don't all have the desire to decamp there on the way out/back. 

There's surely scope to run shuttles to Bewdley and back or brake van rides in Kiddie, with the spare platforms and spare head-shunt capacity, anyway there's probably a reason for it and I guess it's to do with Health n f***ing Safety as usual. 

Well overall I've had a great weekend, it's sure worth a visit and definitely stay a day or two to enjoy the Severn Valley in all it's glory.

JOURNEYS END ONCE MORE

WEEKEND AWAY TO SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY OCT 3-5 2015 PART ONE

www.svr.co.uk

This year is the Severn Valley Railway's 50th Anniversary as a Heritage Railway site, and since a lot will have changed since I last paid a visit some 30+ years ago as a teenager with my father I think a return trip is long overdue. 

For a start I recall we staying in a B&B in Bewdley which was the end of the line at the time (back in the 1980s), now I am able to stay in Kidderminster itself and enjoy the new features that the "new" terminus will have. Its also handy that I will be travelling up from London and only need to make the one change at Moor Street. 

READY TO DEPART FROM MARYLEBONE

Our journey starts on Saturday morning with a ride up on the Chiltern Line from London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street, from there we'll catch the local service up to Kidderminster itself. I could have taken a quicker route on the ECML but the Chiltern service is much more pleasant and I'm in no rush so will sit back and enjoy the scenery.

ONE OF SEVERAL CLASS 50's ON SITE

Saturday was day three of their diesel gala so plenty of Class 50s, shunters, a Deltic and more. Thankfully Sunday is back to a steam service for us, that's what I come to see.

YES A WESTERN, Albeit a small one...

 

The Diesel engine shed at Kidderminster had several shunter's on display. 

Sadly couldn't get any closer than this as I was on board a train at the time. 

SUNDAY

Today spending the day out on the SVR taking the first train out from Kidderminster at 10:30. The £19 ticket for a day rover pass is excellent value and includes entry to the Engine House visitor centre based at Highley. 

Our outward journey to Bridgnorth was headed (in reverse) by West Country Class No. 34027 "TAW VALLEY". 

Looked in fantastic condition and a tribute to the hard work of the many volunteers that keep this, and so many other, heritage lines going strong. 

'Taw Valley' left on time at 10:30am in superb October sunshine along with her eight blood and custard coaches in tow, gently passing the main line and away towards the first stop at Bewdley. 

As I mentioned the last time I was here would have been over 30 years ago as a teenager with my father.

The line only ran as far as Bewdley - Bridgnorth then and we stayed in a hotel beneath the viaduct here as far as I recall. 

Plenty of waiting passengers for this the first trip of the day, and the service soon filled up ready for the off towards Arley. I've uploaded a short video to YouTube for the trip from towards Highley though does have all the turbulence and noise to be expected as I was in the first carriage behind the loco. Click HERE for the link. 

As we approach Highley we pass by their "Engine Shed" heritage museum, a popular stopping off point for many and about half the train decamped here to have a browse. 

For me I had plans to tour round Bridgnorth and relax by the river so I remained on board as we pushed on towards Hampton Loade and our final outward destination. 

In Part Two of this blog we'll cover the rest of the afternoon and the return journey. Should also include a few pics from my meandering wander around Bridgnorth itself, the Cliff Railway and it's views from the summit.


Hopefully plenty more photo's too.