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"I think perhaps I'll go and see Justine and Lydia" "Who
are they?"...
With a good forecast, and the household authorities otherwise engaged
for the weekend, I had to find my own entertainment. Fortunately, the
last weekend in September held plenty of promise - with good weather
forecast, and the annual open day at Alan Keef's loco works in the
Forest of Dean. The nearby Perrygrove Railway would be offering their
Enthusiasts' Afternoon too...
An added incentive at Keef's would be the presence of
"Justine", the nicely-restored little Arn. Jung 0-4-0 (939 of 1906)
which we had seen the previous weekend at Toddington, posing on the
freight train. She hadn't moved while we were there - perhaps today
would be a chance to see her in action. So it proved - though, of
course, her turn came when I was half-way through my lunch (those hot
pork and stuffing baps again...).
Inevitably,
as well as the steam action on the short running line, there was plenty
of interest in and around the works. The frames of a pair of metre-gauge
Krauss well tanks stood inside (5742 of 1908 and 3192 of 1894) - clearly
both will need a lot of work, one needing a new boiler. Amongst the
interesting items outside were a new coach for the Perrygrove line and a
chunky Deutz single-cylindered diesel, for sale and, I believe, already
sold as I write.
Last
time I was at Keef's, a new locomotive "Lydia" was under construction
for Perrygrove. Today at Perrygrove, Lydia was in action. By all
accounts, Lydia has been a great success - certainly she sounded very
well on the steeply-graded sections of the line with a clear, sharp
exhaust. Perrygrove is, of course, home to an impressive collection of
original and replica Heywood "Minimum Gauge Railway" equipment,
including James Waterfield's lovely "Ursula" - the 3-coach vintage train
hauled by Ursulamakes a fine sight (and sound). Not forgetting the
original steam loco "Spirit of Adventure" taking her turn on the
"normal" passenger workings.
Enough for now - if you've never been, keep an eye on the
Keef website for the date of next year's open day - put it in your diary
and visit these fascinating sites.
; "New coach for Perrygrove")
; "Motor Rail 40SD502 of 1975")
; "Peter Pan in action (KS 4256 of 1922)")
; "Steamy threesome - Peter Pan, Justine and Taffy")
; "Justine on a trial run")
; "Justine")
; "Deutz 19531 of 1937")
; "The Krauss frames in the works")
; "Ursula on the \"normal train\"")
; "New loco \"Lydia\" (Keef 77 of 2007)")
; "The Heywood train")
; "Lydia on the bank approaching Oakiron terminus")
; "A smoky scene - Heywood train at Oakiron")
; "\"Jubilee\" HE 9337 of 1994, regauged from 2' 0\"")
; "Last look at the Heywood train")