Railway Weekend

On Saturday I visited the Middleton Railway here in Leeds. This is the "World's Oldest Working Railway", in operation since 1758. A little gem, somewhat hidden away. Volunteers operate it on weekends. running either diesel (on Saturday) or steam engines (Sunday). There is parking at Moor Road Station.




On Sunday I went to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, to see the newly built Tornado A1 steam engine. It would run there from Friday through Monday, and again on the next weekend. Unfortunately the Tornado had developed a problem on Saturday evening and was now being repaired. Many people who had come specifically to this event, were quite disappointed. The morning train which was supposed to be hauled by the Tornado, was instead hauled by the "Sir Nigel Gresley", the fastest UK steam locomotive. I took a few pictures from it at Pickering Station, then went out into the countryside to take videos from steam trains driving by.



Later I visited the Pickering Model Railroad Exhibition, where I found a rare specimen: Stephenson's Liverpool-Manchester train, with the "Rocket".

On the Footplate of a Steam Locomotive

Last year, I had visited the Leeds Middleton Railway, which claims to be the oldest working railway in the world: operating since 1758, 250 years. I had taken a few photos and posted them on Flickr. A few days ago, the traffic manager of the Middleton Railway asked for permission to use some of these pictures in their archive, and I agreed. As a thank-you, I was offered to take a ride on the footplate of a steam locomotive this Sunday.

I took my camera(s) (the picture cam, the video cam, and the head-worn video cam), set myself up with the Soundman in-ear microphones, and bought a day-rover ticket for the railway. First a ride in the "coach", then a ride on the steam engine. Very interesting, to see the operation of the mechanical levers and valves which make that steam engine move.