It is still some what of a frantic time with much dashing around but not much actually physical progress at the moment. I am however getting a lot done behind the scenes, setting myself up for what I really want to and need to be doing. In fact I’m not sure if it’s because I am being way laid from the hands on work or whether the gods are smiling on me at the moment but I am really fired up with all the projects I have whizzing around my mind. Maybe it is because the winter nights are drawing in and traditionally thats when more work gets done just need to find the time to do it.

One of those diversions was a weekend away in Wales that I referred to in my last post. I seem to be making the trip down to see my friends in North East Wales about twice a year which usually consists of a day of trains and a day of walking. This time however with an appointment on the Tuesday I spent an extra day there and as it was a school day we had the opportunity to slope off and take in an event that both my friend and I wanted to see, it being the last opportunity to do so. The event was a sister loco to the Snowdon Mountain Railway steam locos over from the Rothorn in Switzerland.

The first day was spent at Crewe Railway Heritage Centre, nestled right between four lines in and out of Crewe. It was once one of the epicentres of the railways but now is a shadow of its former glory. There is the one remaining train manufacturer left in town though not a resident rather a transient visitor. There is also the rather sad figure of the Brits efforts at an Advanced Passenger Train and like many of the ground breaking projects money was whisked away before the the project was allowed to mature. Even today with a new coat of paint and a spruced up interior it would cut the mustard, pass muster and any other phrase you car to think of. As can be seen from the pics though time has not treated it well left to its own devices and the elements. I wonder if one day some preservation group may come along and attempt to save a deteriorating piece of our past like others have, ATP-E, HST-P, H-BEL amongst others.

The second day was spent at the Seven Valley Gala and the weather gods shone on us! There was a lot going on even at the passing halt Hampton Loade. There were some pretty big celebs of the loco world there with Britannia and Royal Scot being the ones we managed to catch. I also finally managed to catch up with the NELG J27 Loco that had been on my local line for a month and somehow I had managed to miss it before it headed off down to Bewdley. No doubt it will be back next year on its more natural stomping grounds.

I have managed to piece together some video from the camera which seems to have decided to go mute at certain sections and introduce a certain amount of image stutter also. Maybe its trying to tell me something, but at the moment I have more pressing needs for the hard won pennies so I hope that the limping duo of camera and phone can carry on till point where they can be decommissioned.

I have also started learning a bit more about taking video and I can see that my efforts lag way behind my visions of what I should be creating. But then I don’t have large chunks of cash invested I’m my equipment unlike my friend. But  as the saying goes the best camera is the one you have in your hand and it’s also more about the shots being taken. I would however like to sharpen up my skills a bit. I week of watching some beautifully shot European railways has certainly given pause for thought.

I was going to post my first video but it would seem that the ducks are not in a row and it’s still uploading and on the basis that I post every Sunday I’ll add it tomorrow when the old laptop should have done its thing!!

Until next time..