Winter Cumbrian Mountain Express (Sat 18th Feb)

Great blog to read as always Dave....just one query....From the Blog...."There aren't, however, any heritage railways which are particularly near to Coventry, and thus I haven't yet been on any such lines in England."

Hmmm... There's the Severn Valley railway based in Kiddiminster or the Great Central at Looga-barooga (otherwise known as Loughborough) or the Battlefield line at Bosworth to name but three that are....relatively close I would say (there may be others but this is off the top of my head)....

There's also the Tyseley steam museum in Birmingham which in itself isn't a preserved railway BUT they do run regular steam trains during the summer from Snow Hill to Stratford and back....

" said:

Great blog to read as always Dave....just one query....From the Blog...."There aren't, however, any heritage railways which are particularly near to Coventry, and thus I haven't yet been on any such lines in England."

Hmmm... There's the Severn Valley railway based in Kiddiminster or the Great Central at Looga-barooga (otherwise known as Loughborough) or the Battlefield line at Bosworth to name but three that are....relatively close I would say (there may be others but this is off the top of my head)....

There's also the Tyseley steam museum in Birmingham which in itself isn't a preserved railway BUT they do run regular steam trains during the summer from Snow Hill to Stratford and back....

15 miles for the Battlefield, 25 for the GCR at Leicester, 30 each for the SVR at Kidderminster and the Gloucs-Warks at Toddington, 50 for Peak Rail at Matlock and the Churnet Valley at Cheddleton, 60 for Dean Forest at Lydney, 80 for Llangollen - the list goes on!

Additionally, all bar the Battlefield, Llangollen and Churnet Valley are reachable by rail (Cheltenham for the GWSR, and it's a much shorter walk from the mainline station if you go to Loughborough for the GCR).

15 miles for the Battlefield, 25 for the GCR at Leicester, 30 each for the SVR at Kidderminster and the Gloucs-Warks at Toddington, 50 for Peak Rail at Matlock and the Churnet Valley at Cheddleton, 60 for Dean Forest at Lydney, 80 for Llangollen - the list goes on!

Additionally, all bar the Battlefield, Llangollen and Churnet Valley are reachable by rail (Cheltenham for the GWSR, and it's a much shorter walk from the mainline station if you go to Loughborough for the GCR).

" said:

15 miles for the Battlefield, 25 for the GCR at Leicester, 30 each for the SVR at Kidderminster and the Gloucs-Warks at Toddington, 50 for Peak Rail at Matlock and the Churnet Valley at Cheddleton, 60 for Dean Forest at Lydney, 80 for Llangollen - the list goes on!

Additionally, all bar the Battlefield, Llangollen and Churnet Valley are reachable by rail (Cheltenham for the GWSR, and it's a much shorter walk from the mainline station if you go to Loughborough for the GCR).

Given that I don't have a car (in fact, I can't drive!), rail access is rather necessary, which rather rules out the Battlefield. Kidderminster is by far the easiest to get to, and I have been meaning to get to the SVR. The GCR at Leicester/Loughborough may be closer but requires changing trains at Nuneaton *shiver*...

I guess part of the reason, which I perhaps didn't say in my blog post, is that mainline trains hold more appeal to me than a branch line; my ideal day out on trains usually involves one or more large loops with a minimum of duplicated track, rather than going to "the end of the line" and coming back again. (Not that that's stopped me track-bashing branch lines by going to one end of the line, stepping off the train, taking a photo, and getting back on the same train... in fact late last month I spent three hours on a 323 doing all of the Cross-City line...)