A Great Day!

All days are good but sometimes there is a day which you will remember and today was  one of those days.

Was it because of my 20 mile bike ride this morning? Well it was a good 20 mile ride and I returned home relatively in breath!

Was it because I cleaned the kitchen and the floor was clean enough to eat your dinner off. Well Mrs Woody was impressed and the cats actually do tend to end up eating their dinner off the floor once they have pulled it out from the feeding dishes so they will be impressed too.

Was it because I have managed some more progress with the Zvezda K5350 Mustang truck kit and got the body sides glued together? Well it is coming together nicely.

 All these were good but the highlight of the day which made it a great day was a trip to the Rock by Rails museum in Rutland and you can find all the details on their website by clicking here. It was my first time to a railway attraction since my last model railway exhibition in February 2020 so it was a bit special. I was lucky enough to be accompanied by a good friend Mr Bliss who had a long career with British Rail dealing with Permanent Way matters so talk to and from as well as at the museum was very much focused on railway matters and I learnt a lot in a few hours. 

I will let the photos below do the talking with a few notes where necessary.

Phil Parker from British Railway Modelling magazine built the Hornby Family Fun Layout and he donated it to the museum where it is located in the cafe and it is a great piece of modelling showing how what in effect is a train set becomes a model. Details on his blog - click here.

Makes you want to go and buy the Hornby model.

Strangely we had talked about dealing with mining subsidence and having to literally jack the track back into a level plane on our way to the museum and whilst not dealing with subsidence they are jacking some track level on site so I knew exactly what was going on

An unusual use for a cement mixer. Used to clean and sort ballast. 

The old loco shed from Harston in Leicestershire rebuilt at the museum where a lot of restoration work is now carried out including the steam loco below stripped to its boiler.

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On operational days rides down the line are provided in these brake vans.

Steam loco Belvoir awaiting restoration.

I didn't know that this existed and as there is a family connection with the war in the Far East this was a poignant moment for me.

Always good to see some humour and this loco is obviously used for novices to learn on with the L plate!

Some diggers as well.

The cab from a massive excavator used to mine ironstone in the area.

Love to have this in my garden but I think Mrs. Woody would draw the line at that plonked on the front lawn!

If only I could drive it home that would be the perfect ending to a great day! 

I will be back probably on one of the operational days. The place just oozes with atmosphere and nostalgia. Well worth a visit and after Covid places such as theses need all the custom and support they can get.