An ongoing saga in the miniature railway world has been Adam Jeffrey's attempts to get planning permission for a new line. The good news is that instead, he has taken over ownership of the Rudyard Lake Railway, which is even closer to my doorstep than Apedale.
It has been a long time since I last visited, so long ago that my VHS camera was a novelty. I'm not sure if any footage survives. All Summer I'd been planning to visit, but family events largely got in the way.
So, I made a special effort for the steam gala weekend. What a day it was! There were lots of trains and lots of people keen to make it a success. I also ran into several people I'd only met online before The highlights for me were the Climax and the two Curwen locos. A day ticket let me travel on several trains, with a half hourly service, but I still managed to walk miles getting photos.
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Rudyard was once touted as a holiday destination by the North Staffordshire railway. Some of their redundant 4 wheel carriages were repurposed as holiday chalets. I spotted a couple still in situ but rather run down about 10 years ago whilst canoeing on the lake, they ended up being moved to Foxfield for restoration along with some other finds from the area. There's a post on my blog about my finding them.
ReplyDeleteI should have gone to the Rudyard, but didn't know it was on until Sunday afternoon.
Indeed, Rudyard Kipling got his name because his parents honeymooned in the hotel there. The team told me publicity was deliberately low key because they didn't know if it would work. I think they missed a trick, because a lot of casual visitors were turning up at Dam station with no idea an event was on and no details were available. I'm assured next year's event will be better publicised. They would also welcome more model exhibits - I got an invite to bring my 7/8ths locos on the Sunday, but had family commitments.
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