Banbury Steam Rally (27th June)

Hello everyone

I hope you are all ok.

I had a lovely day out yesterday atthe  Banbury Steam Rally which is held in Bloxham. It is held over two days (Saturday and Sunday) every year.

There were steam engines, traction engines, classic cars, commercial vehicles, motorbikes, tractors and all sorts there. Basically something for everyone. 

It was glorious weather which made it a lovely day. 

It's over a couple of rather large fields so my legs were rather tired by the end of the day. I've included some photos of my day out below for you all to see for yourselves. 

I'll let you know what I got up to today later, so I will speak to you all really soon.

 

Lots of love

Ben

Brooklands Double Twelve Event

Hello everyone

I hope you've all had a lovely Sunday. 

I've been to Brooklands Museum today with mummy and daddy. 

We had a lovely couple of hours watching the driving tests where all the cars can go up the test hill of the old track and then do manoeuvre tests around obstacles. It was all very good fun to watch especially watching the test hill.

The Double Twelve event is held each year. It is held on the weekend closest to 17th June which is the anniversary of the race track at Brooklands originally opening in 1907. The track closed in 1939 when the site became an area for production of military aircraft. Due to the work carried out on the site and bombing during World War II the original track was damaged in places and never returned to a race track after the war.

There are plans afoot though to bring some of the old track back in to use, we will see how that goes in the coming years.

Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead.

Speak to you again soon

Lots of love

Ben

Just a few of the cars I saw today (I like the minis personally as they are small like me) 

At the test hill

Vintage planes 

Bluebell Railway 13th June 2015

Hello everyone

I hope you are all ok. 

Yesterday mummy, daddy and I all went to the Bluebell Railway. I know you are probably thinking we go a lot. Well we are all members and it's our most local steam railway so it makes sense for us to go more often. 

Yesterday though was rather special at the Bluebell. A special shed known as Atlantic house was open. Inside is a locomotive which is being built, it's a new Brighton H2 Atlantic locomotive. It will be called Beachy Head. 

There are no examples of this type of locomotive preserved so this is a very special project not only for the Bluebell but for the preservation movement too. Originally there were 6 of these locomotives produced between June 1911 and January 1912 with them being withdrawn from service and scrapped between and 1956 and 1958. 

Fundraising for this project continues so that the work can be completed so they hold open days at the shed and have a book sale, railwayana sale and auction. I hope they made lots of money after the last two days (I certainly bought lots of books to help them out). 

More information on the project with ways of donating can be found online at www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/locos/atlantic/ 

We also had a trip on the train to East Grinstead  and back which made the day even better!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. 

I'm off to Brooklands now so speak to you later.

Lots of love

Ben

Chilling with Stepney 

Atlantic loco

Waiting for my train

Back in the sheds

On the train

Watching the loco swap ends at East Grinstead 

Statfold Barn Railway (6th June 2015)

 Hello everyone

I hope you are all well and had a lovely weekend. 

Sorry for the absence from my blog but after my Welsh holiday I needed a little bit of a rest. 

I did have a very interesting day out yesterday though and wanted to let you all know about it. It was so late and I was very tired when we got home so I wasn't able to tell you sooner I'm afraid.

Yesterday mummy, daddy, some family friends and I all went to the Statfold Barn Raway in Staffordshire. 

The railway is in fact an extensive and unique private collection of locomotives, rolling stock and railwayana. 

It was a marvellous day out. The collection/railway isn't open to the public but they run invitation only enthusiasts days a few times and year and that's how I managed to get to go. 

I had a wonderful time looking at all the interesting locos and all of the stuff that is there. I also had quite a few train rides up and down the track that is there. The railway line in fact crosses the county border between Staffordshire and Warwickshire, or at least I'm sure that's what my guidebook said, so I started to get a bit confused. 

I even wandered around the sheds and storage areas where there were more treasures to see. 

The weather was fantastic too which made it an even more enjoyable day out.

I feel a certain amount of pride In the fact that I've seen such an amazing collection which I know that not everyone else has seen, unlike when you go to railways open to the public all the time. But it 

doesn't make them less enjoyable to me.

Anyway I must be off and to bed as I'm rather sleepy still. 

Hope you all have a lovely week ahead. 

 

Speak to you soon

Lots of love

Ben

The 'Galloping Goose'

A loco names after my friend Badger

Two of the locos working, there were rather a lot of locos out working yesterday 

There were even other sorts of vehicles there

Some of the locos in the sheds

The garden railway around the lake

In the gardens

Waiting for the engine to come around again