The Sunday after Expong, Jan van Mourik and I went to the Bredgar & Wormshill gala, where we met several other modellers that had been at Expong. The day started in bright sunlight, but soon a dense fog rolled in. The result was rather spectacular. Here is a preview - some video stills and photos.
Lady Joan setting off on to the turntable, in bright sunlight:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00002.jpg&hash=4c0aced66e1d5ecb0e7a5a4cd23eb42f70a4cdf4)
Victory disgraced itself with valve trouble and had to be taken out of service:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2FPB015953.jpg&hash=16e05e0b165157ee6db390b534f5588ef23ab43d)
Eigiau roaring out of the fog as Limpopo waits in the station:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2FPB015978.jpg&hash=1c4ba825244b4cc76a3c12c87a9b7ab28f58099b)
Lady Joan stalled at the bottom of the grade to Stony Shaw:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2FPB015988.jpg&hash=948b04d5a589a54d072c6238d6f1c2f5f790abf5)
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2FPB015991.jpg&hash=26f1cd32ec9a891c2750d779869ed66acdc2e5d0)
Eigiau passing the signal box:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00014.jpg&hash=24d7f8a371c552ff0f7f2df2b0b5ec5404858bb2)
Lady Joan roaring up the curve, backlighted by the fog:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00023.jpg&hash=fe7537aff36cc213da1a240bb5c9b9fe707d2603)
Armistice shunting the rather nice tank wagon:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00028.jpg&hash=ceab1f5dda721228ab614669409cb7ad2c30df7b)
As the stock was shunted under cover in the dark, with the headlights of one of the diesels switched on, a Halloween-like scene ensued. The images are low quality, but they may give an impression of what we witnessed. Even the cows in the neighbouring field were impressed!
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00034.jpg&hash=b7641d22b7d4d8ce9fd41e5ea0ec96bfb2782fee)
Blowing down the boiler of Limpopo:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00040.jpg&hash=13e8c8df5a388802273b81be2cd597b28a8ad4e6)
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00047.jpg&hash=4847339de237ee9cd7868ee5d7ecea31fb74473f)
Here Lady Joan comes up to the turntable:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00049.jpg&hash=4be409b1fa2da9fbcfa5eca32cc88844befa5998)
Limpopo is backed into the shed:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00052.jpg&hash=9a757d9d8f28edd55501b431c6fce3f0d29970be)
And finally, all the steam locos were inside the shed, shrouded in vapour:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2Fvlcsnap-00059.jpg&hash=65c9066f54dbd9d7ed636ada9ed2d756b2d27cdc)
It was a wonderful sight to see the steam trains charging out of the fog. Actually it was so wet that my flash photos in the dark returned reflections of the droplets suspended in the air. In consequence they look a bit funny:
(https://forum.009society.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.narrowgauge.nl%2Falbums%2F201511bredgar_wormshill%2Fimages%2FPB016020.jpg&hash=d6c8e8a669ad7961e292b919001235c3157aac06)
The BWLR is a private railway which is laid out very professionally, including signals and excellent track. The main station of Warren Wood has a passing loop. The line descends through a curve past a field with a decided 'dip' in it, then climbs sharply to the far terminus at Stony Shaw which is situated in a wooded area.
Returning trains continue through Warren Wood across the level crossing on the main driveway of the estate to a field at the other side. Here is a kickback siding used to store rolling stock and the spare locomotive which exchanges place with the one just come in.
The 'gala' means a very busy operation sequence with two or three trains continuously at work. There were four locomotives in steam, five if you count Victory which was taken out of service as for some reason it lacked power, due to suspected valve trouble. I visited the signal box at Warren Wood and they were in constant radio contact with Stony Shaw at the other end. It was great fun to see the operation from the box, which is an often forgotten aspect of railway working.
The trains use token and ticket working to make sure there is only one train on the line at any time. If a second train goes the same way, it carries the token, the driver of the previous one being issued a 'ticket'. The second one is only cleared for the road after the box at the other end has confirmed its arrival. In the fog this procedure was especially important since the drivers could only see for about 100 yards.
At the end of the day normally there is some running in the darkness, but this time it was very dark due to the fog, as can be seen from the images.
The full album can be viewed here:
http://www.narrowgauge.nl/albums/201511bredgar_wormshill/index.htm (http://www.narrowgauge.nl/albums/201511bredgar_wormshill/index.htm)
Spledid, very atmospheric, thanks for posting!
Doug
One day I really must look into staying in the area after ExpoNG on the Saturday to get to Bredgar on the Sunday...
That's what I did last year, on the advice of other modellers at Expong, and this time I returned. It's not far, being near Sittingbourne. And the atmosphere on the line is very friendly.
I'm pleased to announce I published two videos of the Bredgar steam gala of last Sunday.
The first video shows the locomotives leaving the shed in clouds of vapour, followed by some trains when the sun was still out. Next we board a train and have a few trips over the line. At about 6:50 you'll see what looks like a train being banked up the hill by Victory. Actually, Victory was trailing on the rear end as it had failed, probably due to valve trouble. Limpopo had quite a job hauling the weight uphill - it loses its feet near the camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1eXx3_b78 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1eXx3_b78)
The second video shows signal box operations, then trains passing in the fog, shunting operations in the increasing gloom and darkness, followed by the steam locomotives returning to the shed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IsZwr672io (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IsZwr672io)
I had to rework the first video as I found there were several views showing people in all too prominent positions. Regrettably these had to be cut out as the video was to be published. There are still too many people recognizeable in some of the videos, but I had to draw the line somewhere.
Anyway, I hope you like the result. Despite the fact some of the video is shaky - that's the trade-off between flexibility of a hand-held camera, and having to lug a tripod around. And I find I still have that tendency to tilt the camera to the left - many images are at a slant...