The Middy or Mid Suffolk Light Railway is the heritage railway museum across the fields and Colin liked to walk there when he was still well enough and use our local residents free pass.
I had sorted some more of Colin's old railway books into a bag so took them for their secondhand book shelves. I'm always a bit disappointed when I've been to the railway, there's never as much happening as they advertise ..........or maybe you have to be an extra super-fan of railways to spend more than an hour there........... It was mainly old men standing around! Of course It's wrong to compare it to all the big Heritage Steam railways in other parts of the country - it's not been going so long, hasn't much space to expand and anyway it never was a big railway, never completed, always in debt and closed in 1952 long before Mr Beeching did his big railway closures.
So just a few photos of my hour there and then I came home for lunch.
Steam Traction engines as an extra attraction for their final weekend of the season.
Little and Large!
They are closed now except for the Santa Specials and next time I go there it will be for their WWII weekend next year.
Back Tomorrow
Sue
We have a similar line here. I used to live within sound of the toot toot. It was always a pleasant sound that something jolly was going on on the line. I am now a few more miles away from it so no longer hear it. My friend gives up her time to work on the trains when they have their "specials" along with her husband. It gives a lot of people pleasure, those who work on it at weekends, and those who go on it. From your pictures it looks like a lot of effort went into the weekend and their were some good steam engines as well.
ReplyDeleteI do love a good steam train and am quite partial to steam engines too. There is a steam engine rally/club site in our neighbouring village and we often see the engines on the roads either heading for the meets or going home. They're beautiful. One day we even saw Fred Dibnah rolling through the village.
ReplyDeleteHugs-x-
My dad was a great steam enthusiast and I was brought up to consider 'diesel' a dirty word! I love the distant sound of a locomotive chuff chuffing. It's so evocative.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing those steam traction engines (esp Little and Large) some years ago at another Suffolk event. Love the sound of the old steam trains.
ReplyDeleteWe have the Pickering to Whitby line which makes its way through spectacular countryside. It is always lovely to see it chugging along in the valley when you are driving across the moors.
ReplyDeleteWe have the Gwili railway from Carmarthen up the Gwili valley a few miles. They work REALLY hard on it to extend the track and offer more events. I cannot understand people protesting about a steam railway OR the tooting - how silly is that? People and high horses . . .
ReplyDeleteMind you, an event like that IS a bit "blokey" and most of us wimmin fail to see the allure of a static engine or worse still, a pile of rusty bits waiting to be upgraded into another engine!! I don't mind seeing the statics at our local vintage show but wouldn't go out of my way otherwise. A ride on a steam train is a bit more like though.
I am quite fond of the old steam trains and have done several trips including a Santa special with the grand children. A wonderful experience, your photos brought back some lovely memories.
ReplyDeleteHow could you not love the old steam train! It looks like a fun way to spend an afternoon. I love the sound of a train. To me it's almost a romantic, dreamy sound.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was a railroad engineer for over 30 years so this post was interesting to me. Fie on the woman who has a problem with the occasional train whistle. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteNice that you were able to go back to somewhere Col loved Sue. I firmly believe that going back like this is a strong part of the grieving process.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Yorkshire we often took our four kids to the steam trains at Keighley and Valley railway. We all loved it. Our nearest railway line, just up the road is now a nature reserve, cycling path etc. Though there is some talk of reopening. I for one want it to remain as is now. But would still like to hear some tooting!
ReplyDeleteI miss hearing the train whistle that we could hear at our house. No rail lines near here in downtown Columbia,MD. Why in the world would someone object to that sound?
ReplyDeleteWe live in a very urban area, homes on top of homes, most of the lots have 2 homes on them. But at the end of our street is the Union Pacific railroad. I was worried when we moved here about the noise, but it's very little compared to the street noise. Sometimes in the late evening we get an engineer who takes seriously the horn blowing at intersections and lets it fly. Usually they are short trains heading down to the Chevron refinery 5 miles away. A long time ago, the Ringling Brothers Train would go through on its way to a siding near the airport so they could set up at the Forum in Inglewood. It was a short distance from LAX and thousands of people would line the streets to see the animals parade by. But that's a time long gone now.
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