© Geoff’s Rail Diaries 2011 Blists Hill is the location of the "Victorian Town", the Ironbridge Gorge Museum's main visitor attraction. Just down the road from "Geoffspages", it's one of my regular venues for an afternoon out with the camera. It's not primarily a railway attraction - for most of its existence, railway interest has been static and minimal - a few old standard gauge wagons, the plateway remains, the old tubs around the mine. However, more recently, there have been some very significant developments... One such has been the location of the replica of Trevithick's 1802 locomotive, like the original built locally, on the site. After a couple of false starts, the plateway on which it runs seems to have found a permanent home beside the canal, near the old brick and tile works. Dating from 1990, it's an illustration of the "ancient and modern" hinted at in the title. It is steamed regularly during the season, puffing up and down wheezily from time to time. Driving is no sinecure - possessing a single cylinder, drivers have to stop carefully otherwise a "bump start" is needed (see the video clip below, dating from 1997 when the loco was demonstrated at Ironbridge power station) In the very recent past, Blists Hill has undergone major development. A new set of buildings "Canal Street" include a fish and chip shop whose aroma is truly mouth-watering. A magnificent new visitor centre with state-of-the-art audio-visual presentation replaces the old main entrance. "Peter", the ex- Kinlet colliery Barclay (AB 782 of 1896) stands proudly outside, having undergone a fairly thorough (cosmetic) restoration. Last but not least, two rail developments - an "incline plane lift" and a narrow gauge (2' 0") mine railway opened for business on Monday 24th August. The "incline plane lift" is intriguing. The intention, I believe, is to "reflect the incline lifts that were used around the area to transport goods up and down the sides of the Gorge" as part of  the local canal network. Hmmm. It's much closer in appearance to the seaside (and inland, just down the road at Bridgnorth) cliff lift many will be familiar with. However, there are two significant differences:     * It's unbalanced - just the one car runs up and down     * neither the wheels nor the rails are flanged! Plain wheels ride on flat-topped rails, with small horizontal guide wheels running against a central rail, Fell-style. The mine train and railway is a Keef product - the train bears 2008 works plates. The locomotive (AK 84) is a 4w battery electric, finished, like the tiny 4-wheeled carriages, in a smart plain green livery. The locomotive and the driving trailer bear the nameplates "Sir Peter Gadsden" - who was chairman of the museum trust until his death in 2006. The reason for the short coaches is obvious - the curves would have looked tight on my childhood "00" gauge layout. The train shuttles (with flanges squealing on the curves...) between a station at the foot of the incline plane and a newly constructed "mine experience", complete with AV show. Can't really comment on the latter - I'll save it for a day when things are a bit quieter at the museum. Video: The replica of Trevithick's 1802 Pen-y-Darren loco is seen in action on the plateway, laid between the standard gauge metals in the oil siding, at Ironbridge power station. May 1997 Link: Blists Hill Victorian Town