End of the season.

On Saturday it was our last visit to Crich for the year. 

It was a nice day for the 1st November, it was also going to be a busy day with last tram at 20:00 but not so busy for us as two crews had been rostered for each tram so I'd be off duty by 15:00. 

No choice today, I was allocated 167. No complaints from me, a Blackpool tram that had run there this summer. 

Apart from forgetting it was a fixed head trolley I had a good day, the early finish meaning I didn't have to clean the tram at the end of the day a distinct advantage. 

Alison and I decided to take advantage of our bonus time together and we walked up to Crich stand. 

It's the memorial to the Sherwood Foresters regiment and their part in the Great War. It was built in 1923 and looks fantastic. 

Neither of us had been to the top before so up we duly went. 

The views were amazing all the way round and the wind unbelievably strong. 

We also had great views of the tramway village 

and the trams themselves. 

It was unusual seeing them from above

though the zoom makes it look closer than reality. 

I'm glad not to have any more long drives in the car to Crich for a while, but I'll miss tram driving until next season. 

The Aliens are coming.

Half term was a busy week. We managed lots of family time, and a couple of us days. 

On our way to the station to go back to Blackburn we went roundby the BBC shop in the Mailbox. 

Here is KM in a early Halloween disguise. 

The following day we decided to go to B'ham beer festival. With 400 beers on tap it was bound to be a great day, and as both John and Jack joined us we had excellent company too. 

A good time was had by all. 

Long time no blog.

We've had a busy few weeks and not much chance to blog. 

Tonight I thought I'd add a few photos taken fairly recently. 

This is the Barrowford end of the Foulridge Tunnel on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. 

The rest are from a walk I did along the Wyrley and Essington Canal from Wednesfield to Wolverhampton. 

This used to have locks on it until the retail development. Now it is just an ideal mooring for the pub. 

The rest are taken on my walk. 

Tyseley open day.

Sunday was a great day as it was fine and Tyseley open day. Yippee lots of steam trains. 

After a long bus journey to get there our first adventure was a short trip on a steam hauled train. With this loco. 

After this we were delighted to see Bittern, the star of the day. 

 

We had to be shooed out of the way so it could come past us. I thoroughly enjoyed being 18 inches from a moving steam train. 

Bittern was followed by Earl Mount Edgcumbe. 

They then coupled together and ran as a pair. 

Gracie wanted to see the engineering shed, so we wandered around it and then found ourselves in the viewing area as the afore mentioned locos did a few runs past. 

There were loads of people watching as the locos disappeared into the cloud of steam they produced. 

Then we made our own spot the difference photos. 

Can you see the changes I made in the next two photographs?

To round off our trip spectacularly they decided to turn Bittern on the turntable 

The following pictures tried to capture this whilst avoiding a buffer in the tummy!

A fantastic event :-). 

Blackburn and back.

Today it was a trip up the west coast line to Blackburn to pick up KM and Gracie. 

The 9:15 from New Street was where I started. 

Unfortunately, or typically, I was late into Preston  and missed my connection. 

It was then plan B and a train to Blackburn 

Before another train back to Mill Hill. 

Not too much delay thankfully. 

Children were safely collected and then it was time for the journey back. 

But no train. 

And little information. 

Anyway, it was late but eventually arrived. 

Perhaps it's colder up north than I remember. 

We got the Pendolino back and arrived safely. 

Lots of travelling but much better than driving. 

Tramming at Crich

I was duty one again today. A poor weather forecast and not wanting to shunt trams around, helped me choose Glasgow 812 to drive today. 

A nice air brake tram. 

In fact all today's trams were air brake, Blackpool 630

And Leeds 180

The access tram was also out. 

The weather steadily improved throughout the day and we had over 300 visitors, far better than I had expected. 

Today's Duty Onspector was my good friend Roger, seen in action dealing with matters of the day in front of the newly repainted tardis. 

In the afternoon Blackpool 762 was out on driver training. 

Another great day, I drove 12 round trips. 

All too soon it was time for cleaning trams and going home, but one last photo opportunity to show off 630s new platform doors. 

Only one more driving day before the end of the season. It always goes so quickly.