Dooo the Locomotion!

Woke early after a lovely deep sleep. We enjoyed our breakfast - porridge & a hot cuppa - plotted a route with not much a good idea where to park, and bimbled through some countryside & on into Derby, eventually finding Alstom Works at the head of a 'very' long queue, and met with a firm "No you cannot park here"...oh botheration...but not to worry, a secure spot was found not too far away.

There were vintage busses ferrying showgoers from Derby Rail Station and we saw plenty whilst finding our way to the back of the half mile line of rail enthusiasts, and once through the entrance gates, there was the huge site to walk around. Needless to say we got our steps in!

There were trains from the very beginning - Locomotion - all the way to the present day - Eurostar - and apparently even a mock up of the interior of the upcoming HS2 trains, whenever they are due to arrive ;-D

Standing at track level really gave an appreciation of how massive they all are, an impression lost when stood on a station platform. At the other end of the scale were steam powered scale models chugging around one of the halls, one of them giving passenger rides, and in another an amazing selection of model railway layouts...not toys by any means...works of art more like with incredible detail.The event is on for three days and to be honest we didn't manage to see everything, probably getting to see 2/3rds at the most but we didn't leave disappointed. Lunch was Sri Lankan Paneer and was very very Nom.

Bestie got the nicest of surprises whilst gongoozling at Pete Watermans model railway when she bumped into her Uncle & two of his friends! Her Uncle was elated to see her too and there is a lovely picture of them on her blip of the day.

Shortly after another familiar face was spotted so we asked him for a selfie, although even better, a kind lady nearby stepped in and offered to take the picture for us! (bottom) The show was by now closing and tannoy messages were instructing everyone to make their way to the exit. Rush? Nah but we left eventually ;-D

Back at our hotel there was more pizza, not quite the same pizza as the night before but it was round and we were shattered after all that walking, following up with a long natter and early night. A great day, thank you so much for the invite Gal :-)