On Sunday we had a trip to The Middleton Railway. We were fortunate to have glorious sunny weather. Unfortunately due to damage caused to the track by people attempting to steal it the usual sunday steam service wasn’t running, but they were making good use of the available track running a small diesel engine, so everyone got a trip in the cab.
After a good wander around the engine house we were lucky enough to get a tour of the workshop too. The noise of running water was slightly concerning but that was due to a restored engine being filled (it takes rather a lot of water) for a leak check before it’s steamed up for the first time.
We left the workshop feeling rather envious, we’d love to be able to build things on that scale (we had an interesting discussion on the feasibility of a steel extruding reprap-a-like but came to the conclusion that something which cast metal billets and fed them to a cnc machine was probably a better solution to that puzzle).
We finished the day off with a drink and dinner in The Engine.
There’s the distinct possibility that Middleton Railway have acquired themselves one or two extra volunteers, and we’ve all got the perfect excuse to go for another trip once the line is repaired – what better transport for a picnic in the park!