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 Click the
thumbnail to view the full sized images, which measure 600 pixels on the
longest side, and are around 50k in size. Please read my copyright
notes if you want to use them in any way
 It
hardly seemed a year since the last visit - nevertheless, once again the
day of the annual open day at Alan Keef's works near Ross-on-Wye dawned
bright and sunny. The Perrygrove railway would be open too - a special
opening primarily for enthusiasts.
 First,
the trip to Keef's. Although the "Steam Debut of
New Privately Owned Vertical Boiler Locomotive" was listed on the web
site, there was no sign of this locomotive - however the much-travelled
 Kerr
Stuart "Wrens" Pixie (4260 of 1922) and Peter Pan (4256 of 1922) were in
residence and in action alongside regular vertical-boilered "Taffy",
providing ample food for the cameras.
There was more interest in the works - in
particular, the project to build a "Puffing Billy" replica, complete
with heavy wooden frames, plus boiler and various castings for cylinders
etc. Nearby were the frames of Baldwin 4-6-0T no. 778 of 1917, described
as a "DIY locomotive kit"...
 On
to the Perrygrove Railway, near Coleford, which also provided an
interesting surprise. "Spirit of Adventure" had been joined by a replica
of Heywood's "Shelagh",
 built
at Duffield Bank works 100 years ago. Strangely, the very similar
"Ursula", normally resident at Perrygrove, was nowhere to be seen...
We took a ride, once again, in the superb
Duffield Bank dining car replica, before getting on with some serious
snapping and video recording (not to mention blackberry-scoffing
in-between trains)
Once again, an excellent day. If you're interested in the smaller
gauges, put them in your diary for next year. Video clips:
all 360 x 288, Windows Media using WM9 codecs
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Taffy "Taffy" works the passenger train at Keef's
484k; 21s |
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Pixie
"Pixie" reverses around the the curve, then hurries
back again, slipping briefly on the gradient
1031k;
47s |
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Spirit of Adventure ... climbs steadily to arrive at the
top station, Perrygrove
877k; 54s |
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Shelagh ...traverses the north loop
- the camera (and the train) panning nearly 180˚
in the process.
Top: the full traverse, low bit rate
(1091k; 1m 10s)
Bottom: just the last bit, passing the
station, lower compression / higher quality
(550k; 18s) |
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; "Talking Point - Peter Pan and Taffy")
; "Puffing Billy")
; "The Baldwin")
; "Peter Pan posing on the passenger")
; "\"Shelagh\" runs round")
; "\"Shelagh\" arrives back at Perrygrove station")
; "\"Shelagh\" at Perrygrove - the archetypal estate railway?")