North Ings

It is claimed that North Ings Farm Railway is one of the least visited tourist attractions in the UK.

To be honest my first impressions seemed to confirm why. It wasn't easy to find and my first few minutes there made me wonder if an open day was more of a social event for the supporters rather than for the benefit of visitors.

During the course of a relatively short visit though I found it quite a friendly places, and Issy was well looked after in the café whilst an enthusiast  friend and I roamed around at will.

It is perhaps the closest thing I've come across to replicating the Cadeby experience.

The original stock, now preserved, first came to my attention because of the rubber scaled IP Engineering 16mm kits. This has now been supplanted by the ex Abbey Light Railway stock.

A visit is highly recommended, it is just a pity it didn't coincide with a Lincolnshire Light Railway operating day.

Spalding Bulb Museum

After the trip to the Model Engineering Show we still had time to pop up the road to a local garden centre that has as an added attraction Spalding Bulb Museum.  The history of large scale flower cultivation in this area has its own fascinating history. It is always a shock to our visitors who associate Spalding with tulips that very few are grown here now.

What is of particular interest is that the museum includes some narrow gauge items. The potato railways of Lincolnshire are well known, and there is archive footage of narrow gauge lines being used to repair riverbanks in the fens, but it is much harder to find out about their use in the flower nurseries.

And since no one was around to answer questions, I'm still not much the wiser.

Anyway, here are some photos.