Monday 11 June 2018

On our Doorstep - Statfold Barn Railway, Giant Miniature Weekend

Hi there everyone πŸ˜€

Whilst we are just back from a week's holiday on the Yorkshire coast ... and I do have plenty to share with you about that ... I wanted to let you know about a day out we had locally a month or so ago first.

A while ago now I saw an event published on a local Facebook page for a steam event at Statfold Barn Railway, a local privately owned railway. It’s somewhere I drive past all the time, but was never aware it was anything other than a driveway to a local farm.

Martin had mentioned the place before and when I saw the post on Facebook publishing the Giant Miniature Weekend I thought bingo, Martin's birthday gift sorted.

I ended up ordering extra tickets for mum and dad, who had never realised the place was there either, and we ended up spending the best part of the loveliest of days exploring the site.

As we arrived and turned into the entrance drive we were all pretty excited, having no idea whatsoever as to what to expect ... other than lots of miniature steam engines. We got there just after the event had started and were surprised to see so many cars on the car park already.

We were immediately hit with the scale of what was going on, a full size steam powered carousel was the first thing we saw, along with a field full of caravans, with intriguing smoke plumes rising in amongst them.

We wandered around the field not quite knowing where to look. There were miniature engines all over the place, we could see that the next field looked like it offered more of the same.

We had a really good look round both of the fields and saw so many engines that we lost count. All looked in pristine condition, brightly coloured and well polished. It was noisy, it was busy, there was the real smell of burning coal in the air, but it was just brilliant.

Martin and I were both taking photographs like crazy, so I am just going to drop a pile of my favourites here. If you aren't that keen on steam engines please do feel free to scroll on past ...
The engines really did seem never ending and the vast majority were accompanied by gentlemen of a certain age, donned in boiler suits, very proud to be showing off their exhibits in the sunshine ...
Not all of the engines were stationary, by no means, there was plenty of opportunities to see them in action ...
We were all really taken with this miniature steam fire engine, which was in immaculate condition ...
Having wandered around both of the fields we ended up back by the carousel ...

It was now time for breakfast, which we picked up on our way through to the station, and it is ... exactly that ... a real station, with platforms, steam trains and a bridge, it was a real surprise.








We were soon on the train riding out to the round house museum and, again, were surprised at the extent of the track. Having gone around the loop we got off at the museum and watched the trains coming and going for a while before moving on.
We got to see the 'token' being handed over before the train went out onto the single track part of the circuit ...
... and the arrival of plenty of the miniature engines ...
There was even the chance to be a 'driver for a fiver', though we didn't have a go at this, plenty of others did ...
We were pretty much on the edge of open countryside up here and the views across the fields were definitely a sight worth seeing ...
We wandered through towards the round house museum and found where the miniature engines had all been heading for ...
Before heading into the round house we had a good look round the courtyard and found all sorts of fascinating and interesting stuff ...
Inside the round house we were all in awe at the extent of the collection there were masses of full sized engines and railway vehicles and all kinds of other railway associated paraphernalia, Martin was in his element and the rest of us were pretty impressed too.




We caught the tram back, sadly having to sit inside, but it was still real good fun ...
We walked the rest of the way back to the station, where we had a mooch around one of the engine sheds before heading off to look for the garden.
Whilst we were a bit disappointed to find that the garden wasn’t open, it just means we will definitely have to visit again, we did find our way to a great viewing point ...
We made our way back to the main field to find a mass of miniature engines all lined up in the parade ring for the 2pm toot. What a sight and one heck of a sound!
By now we were all about ready for home, we'd stayed loads longer than expected and we'd all had a fabulous day, so we headed back to car to head for home.

What a day, right on our doorstep. We've all lived in Tamworth for years and never even knew it was there, absolutely fantastic place, we will definitely go back.

If you're interested in visiting, we would all highly recommend it. It's not somewhere that is open all of the time and you do have to apply for tickets to events, so it's no good just turning up on the off chance.

There is a list of all the events on the Statfold Barn Railway website and they also have a Facebook page, so go on and have a look if you think it might be your kind of thing 

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