Two Month Progress Report

We’re now two months into our challenge. It’s time for a progress report.

We started with a list of 13 railways to ride on within 6 months….we’ve found out about another one while on our travels, and we’ve got wind (Sam, less baked beans please) of another two….

Here’s the tale so far (click the coloured word for a link to their website):

In The Bag- 5

3 April - Bure Valley Railway

8 April - Bressingham Steam Museum

25 April - British Rail (whatever they’re called)

17 May - Lynnsport Railway

17 May - Barton House Railway

Planned - 5

Mid-Norfolk Railway AND Yaxham Light Railway - to be visited on the same day due to geography and an extremely helpful staff at Yaxham (2 railways total)

Wells & Walsingham Light Railway AND Wells Harbour Railway - to be visited on the same day in early August - Wells Carnival Day, gonna be a great day out! (2 railways total)

15 August - Norton Hill Light Railway

On The Horizon - 3

North Norfolk Railway - quite easy to visit

Pentney Park Railway - awaiting details, uh-oh

Pettitt’s Animal Park Railway - will be a good day out

Those are the original 13 railways we identified. But….



Coming Out Of Left-field - A Few….

Ashmanhaugh Light Railway - only open first Sunday each month

Merrivale Model Village, Yarmouth - rumours only so far

“Somewhere near Cromer, maybe something to do with golf” - investigations ongoing!

Eaton Park Railway - Sundays

Strumpshaw Steam - tbn

Fritton Lake - eh?

So 5 down, 13 to go, maybe a few to add! It’s great fun!

The Quest Goes On....

As much as we love the Interweb, sometimes you just have to go back in time and WRITE LETTERS!



Such is the case in the Excellent Train Adventure. Three pesky railways are very tough to track down online, so we've resorted to snail mail to request more information.

If you know anything about Pentney Park Railway, Norton Hill Light Railway, or Ashmanhaugh Light Railway, please let us know!

17 May 09 - Barton House Railway

“Why is it called Barton House Railway Daddy?”

“I don’t know mate, maybe we’ll find out when we get there….”

Barton House Railway (BHR) was our second stop on our Super Sunday. It’s only open on the third Sunday each month, so you have to plan your visit a little in advance - but it’s well, well worth making the effort. The directions on their website are very good - just keep your eyes peeled on the right for The Avenue. If you reach the funeral parlour use their car park to turn round in, they don’t mind. And the car park is not the biggest, so you may have to park on the roads in the surrounding (posh, very posh) housing area (it’s fine, it gives budding jungle explorers a chance to test their skills):

It costs just £2 for adults or £1 for children to get into BHR, and this includes a single journey of their Riverside Railway and access to their lovely railway museum. Further tickets for more journeys can be purchased at the booking office - more of that later.

BHR is so-called because it is situated in the gardens of a large residence called - come on, you can guess it - Barton House! Mystery solved. It’s a beautiful location, the gardens are very pleasant, and you can walk down alongside the River Bure to watch the swans and boats gliding past. Idyllic!

There are currently two separate railways at BHR, with plans in place to add a third in the not-too-distant future. The current tracks are known as the Midland Railway and the Riverside Railway; the Midland Railway is a single loop, and the Riverside Railway has three separate stations.

Now, back to the tickets. A large reason for BHR’s existence is to commemorate and protect the history of the Midland & Great Northern Railway (M&GN), and as part of this you can purchase a bewildering array of different tickets for the trains. The range of tickets is an accurate recreation of M&GN’s original ticket system, and can be bought from a beautifully maintained period booking office. They offer First or Third Class tickets, the difference being that you can sit on a cushion if you go First Class! You can take as many rides as you like and it won't break the bank, prices are from just 15p upwards.

The Midland Railway is the original track at BHR, and is a 3 ½ inch gauge loop, on which passengers and train crew sit astride the train, and the track. The driver is always happy to give you a lesson in BHR history as you make your way around the circuit.

The Riverside Railway comprises of two stations alongside the river (obviously!), and a central station separating them, named Wroxham Station. This is a 7 ¼ inch gauge track, and is probably 200 metres total length. Like Lynnsport, you won’t be riding for hours, but it’s just as much fun. I think the three station set-up is probably so that the M&GN ticket system can be used authentically. Engines are both steam and electric, and as usual, are immaculately built and maintained.

Check out their website : http://www.bartonhouserailway.org.uk/

BHR also has a fully functional signal box, and the staff there are very happy to teach visitors all about how signalling works etc (photo courtesy of Sam).

If you fancy a sit down and rest you MUST visit Dickerson’s Diner, who offer a lovely range of home-made cakes (we particularly liked the rice crispie chocolate cakes).




So we managed to visit both our Sundays-only railways. Most Excellent!



Five down, eight to go.

Recommended!

17 May 2009 - Lynnsport Railway

Our two-in-one Super Sunday started at the local sports centre - Lynnsport!

How many people around here know that there’s a miniature railway there? Not a lot, including Old Bob from The Woolpack, and he knows everything there is to know about King’s Lynn.

After a visit to the Skatepark we wandered around the corner of the main building, following the “Train Rides 50p!” signs, and easily found our next railway. There weren’t many people there, maybe partly thanks to the showery weather, but that just means less queuing doesn’t it.

Lynnsport railway is contained in a small area, and the track is probably 200 metres around, so the rides won’t take up your whole afternoon. This doesn’t make it less fun than other mini-railways though, as the enthusiasts who run it maintain it very neatly and with obvious care and attention. The gauge apparently varies depending on which engines are running - we travelled behind and electric engine called Oska, liveried as a British Rail engine, fab.

The Lynnsport Railway website is here: http://www.kldsme.org.uk/index.htm

We had a cool THREE laps ride for our 50p, which is great value for money. The track is surprisingly smooth - I was expecting the smaller gauge to be a little more rattly, but no, you hardly feel a bump.

The people running Lynnsport Railway are extremely friendly and more than happy to chat about their hobby, and were interested to hear about our challenge.

Four down, nine to go.

Recommended!