Playing with trains.

A couple of weeks ago we bought an Ordnance Survey map of our local area to look for suitable footpaths on which to go blipping.
So this morning we selected one which although we had never been near it, did seem suitable. This was not because it travelled along the course of an old railway, or followed the line of some woods and rivers, but primarily because there was a pub at the start of it, and another just one mile along it.

This path turned out to be a treasure for railway enthusiasts. The local railway preservation society had since 1992 been lovingly re-laying the track that had been ripped up after Dr Beeching, and carefully restoring signals, signal boxes and station buildings. They had also collected a number of engines and rolling stock, and were in the process of getting these in full working order. We didn't have to read about what was going on, because there were endless numbers of people in overalls, dying to tell us about the history of the society, the line, and their future plans. These people were at the pinnacle of their train-spotting careers, on the way to having a railway of their own. They have decided to restore this mile of track and beyond to a 1950's feel, dictated perhaps by the age of the bulk of their rolling stock. Flick was given a thorough education about bogies (I could have done that), tankers and tenders despite her protestations that she was only interested in the colours and textures of their magnificent machines.
The photograph is of the inside of a 50's passenger coach that could have been pulled by the Hogwarts Express.
Even though we spent ages in the company of these wonderful people, we still had time for a bowl of parsnip soup and a couple of sherberts in the pub.