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notes if you want to use them in any way
 Two
venues in one day - Toddington, for a ride on the now-extended North
Gloucestershire Narrow Gauge Railway, in the company of our old friend
"Taffy", and a visit to the Evesham Vale Light Railway, to see two 15"
gauge locomotives in action.
We had visited both lines
previously - but had failed to see steam on the narrow gauge at Toddington.
The line only seems to run on Sundays in summer, and last time we had
been, a bright yellow Hunslet diesel had been in action. "Chaka's Kraal",
the rather nice 0-4-2T, had been in steam the previous few weeks, but was
temporarily out of action. Huh! Recently, the railway press had mentioned Taffy's
visit, along with some scheduled dates for operation - so off we went.
 The
line had doubled in length since our last visit. Running from the car
park, it skirts the western edge of the yard to a depot about 400 yds
away. This was the southern terminus previously - today, after a pause to
visit the depot and view the locomotives, we continued on down the
Didbrook extension, which ends in a run-round loop, with no facilities for
passengers to leave the train. The return trip runs straight back to the
northern station beside the car park - a pleasant-enough run, and probably
quite far enough, given that the coaches all seem to have square
wheels....
 There
was still some afternoon left - we headed for Evesham, where, as well as
the railway, there are shops and other facilities which would keep the
"household authorities" amused for a while... We'd been here a couple of
times before too - on both occasions,
5751 "Prince William" had been in action. I
have to admit, I find the miniature locomotives based on narrow-gauge
practice much more satisfying - I suppose because they are less obviously
models.
Today I was in luck - there
were two such locomotives out on the line. "St. Egwin" was built for the
line at the Exmoor Steam Railway's workshops, and is a little unusual in
that it has been built as an 0-4-0, with side tanks and a tender. The
other active locomotive was "Dougal", built by Severn-Lamb in 1970 for the
railway at Longleat. "It could hardly manage three coaches when we got
it". It was doing OK today!
Video Clips:
all 360 x 288, Windows Media
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A trip behind Taffy Short clips
between Toddington and the depot
917k; 41s |
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Running round Taffy back off the
train and runs round, at the end of the Didbrook extension
1103k; 50s |
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Toddington departure Taffy set off
from Toddington station with another trip down the line
1074k; 49s |
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Dougal at Evesham Dougal is seen
heading back towards Twyford station
855k; 39s |
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St Egwin on the bank The 0-4-0
climbs the bank away from Twyford station
1055k; 48s |
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On the loop St Egwin traverses the
return loop at the far end of the line, and disappears into the
tunnel
766k; 34s |
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Back to index page |
; "Taffy at the depot")
; "Taffy and driver, Toddington")
; "\"Isibutu\" Bagnall 4-4-0T 2820 of 1945")
; "View through a Lister - 2ft gauge steam")
; "Hunslet 6647 (it was yellow last time) and California Crossing box")
; "Taffy at Toddington")
; "Taffy runs round")
; "Taffy - ready for departure")
; "Dougal \"doing OK\"")
; "St Egwin on the loop")
; "St Egwin heads for home")
; "St Egwin on the bank")
; "Dougal tops the bank")
; "Dougal arrives at Twyford station, Evesham")
; "Dougal on the turntable, Twyford station")