The Waterworks

I've had some great visits to local museums, events and railway lines this Summer. I guess my luck couldn't hold.

On the canal not far from us stands Stockton Brook Waterworks . 

I've been dying to see inside, and for ages have been looking forward to their open day.

Unfortunately, although I was there for an hour, I could never find anyone free to talk to me, and there was a total dearth of information boards to tell you what you were looking at. Hence no captions.

There was obviously a lot of chat going on between people who already knew each other, and other attendees saw it as a great success. It left me feeling slightly depressesd and if the fault was on my side, though a visit to the Stafford Model Raily Show the next dispelled that thought. Still, I got some nice picture, although the mood of them sums up how I was feeling. 

Caldon Celebrations

It is hard to believe it is 50 years since the Caldon Canal was restored, though Uttoxeter is still out of reach. 


I wandered over to our local marina and boat club for an event to mark the reopening. Nothing spectacular, but well attended, and an excuse for a long walk and a diversion on the way back to a reasonable pub. 

The remains of the Stoke-Leek line

There was a swing bridge here, for a private siding

Rudyard

 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.