| A rather grey day in April saw me beat a path to the Midland Railway Centre, or the Midland Railway Butterley as it's now known, for the first time in god-knows how many years, in order to take in the delights of their Spring Diesel Gala.
This being my first visit since it became something of a "diesel mecca" (yes, it was that long ago) meant that I took rather too many pictures of the loco's on shed at Swanwick and not enough of the trains in action. The situation wasn't helped much by the fact that it was bitterly cold (why is it always cold at Butterley?) and it kept trying to rain. Add to this the excitement of getting off the bus from Alfreton in the wrong place and wandering into Butterley Steel "by mistake" and you've got the recipe for... well, this day. It's a great place to visit and while the length of the line is a modest 3 miles, there's no shortage of things to point a camera at. Swanwick itself has the air of a large BR depot about it. The gala itself was pretty good and while the service is somewhat more relaxed than it is on other railways, the diesel lads certainly know how to drive them. The final run with two Class 37's in full cry was the definite highlight. The loco's used during the gala were: 25321 (D7671), 37057 "Viking", 37190, 45041 "Royal Tank Regiment" and 46045 (D182). |
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