Bure Valley Railway

My daughter and I had a lovely trip on the BVR today.
I have always had a great time at the BVR, it is such a friendly line and always a great trip.
The locos are interesting and varied, I absolutely love the passenger stock, and the size of everything is big enough to be real and small enough to be fun (and child friendly).
Aylsham is a really nice little/big terminus, as is Wroxham, the countryside is nice, Buxton station is a lovely spot.
Besides which, the engines seem to be working hard and sound like it, much better sound than a standard gauge loco pootling along without much enthusiasm, as happens in some places. And they can turn them at either end!

 

It was even more enjoyable when RAF Coltishall was open. The line ran just a few yards from the end of the runway.

 

The Bure Valley has the only 15in gauge passenger stock I know of with doors which make the right sort of noise when being closed.

 

The Ratty's disabled coaches make the right noise also

 

A few photos from earlier this week.

 

Passed Aylsham station yesterday evening, spotted that a new shed has appeared, serviced by two roads leading off the existing turntable. Maybe a new running shed for locos?

 

It's a great railway, with lots of lovely train ride / walk / boat / vintage bus days out to be had off the back of it. Their Leek & Manifold styled tank engine is probably the most satisfyingly chunky 15 inch gauge loco anywhere. I always wanted to see one of their ZBs decked out in full Indian Railways guise, like this: https://mickpope.zenfolio.com/p226422494/e3fd2e377

And I can half remember a proposal by the Friends group to build a scaled down South African Railways Class 25NC. The Bure Valley is the sort of slightly magical place where I would not be surprised if that were to happen.

 

I've not done this one yet, but I have done the Wells and Walsingham...

 

I'm sure that when the railway first opened in 1990, a locomotive that looked a lot like a class 25NC was featured on the railway's logo.

This may have been one of the original design proposals for the railway's own steam locomotives before they went for the ZB design.

 

Those proposals both sound like great fun.

 

A 15" gauge 25NC would make some of the RHDR locos look like toys!

 

When the BVR first opened they were using RH&DR Locomotives as the others weren't ready yet I believe. I have a photo of myself next to Doctor Syn at Wroxham.

 

Yes, RH&DR locos were the first steam motive power on the line (Samson & Winston Churchill were the first two)

 

BVR ''Everything Goes" this bank holiday weekend.
https://www.bvrw.co.uk/events/Everything-Goes

 

A bit of a late reply, but there has been quite a bit going on at the railway. The new shed is the pit shed which replaces the outside inspection pit. There are two elevated lines from the turntable for locomotive and carriage inspection. Wheels can be dropped and taken round to the workshop. In-between that shed and the running shed is another new shed for pway stores etc. Den Anhang 47887 ansehen

 

Next year will see the 30th Anniversary of the opening of The Bure Valley Railway.

Friday 10th July 2020 is the anniversary of our opening day. We shall steam back in time offering travel at 1990 fares. Not only this, you will be able to travel behind Samson and Winston Churchill from the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. These two locos hauled our first train back in 1990.

The locomotives will stay on for our Anniversary Gala weekend on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th July. A special timetable will be in force and normal fares will apply on these days.

It will be well worth a visit and more information will be posted when I have it.

 

Also just confirmed by Andrew Barnes are two more 2020 events with visiting locomotives to celebrate 30 years of operation:

"23rd - 25th May our Everything Goes weekend, we shall be joined by Lydia from Perrygrove Railway. Many thanks to David Nelson-Brown for making this possible.

This event was to bring together the two locomotives which Alan Richardson was instrumental in being built, the other being our own Mark Timothy, named after Alan’s late son.

The other event will be our Steam in Miniature on 5th & 6th September where we shall have Sian and Katie visiting from the Kirklees Light Railway. Thanks here to both Kirklees and the Sian Project Group for allowing the locos to visit us. This will be only the 2nd time the three Twining valve gear locomotives have been together as full steam locos. The home based sister being our own Wroxham Broad.

Please visit the railway next year and support these events if you can.

We have also ensured that all of the home fleet will be in traffic for our 30th Anniversary season."

 

It's nice to see a warming fire in BVR 8 today. It's spent the last year in the shed receiving major work including new axles and boxes, flyweights added to the driving wheels, improved steam passages in the cylinders, new high capacity steam pipes to cylinders, new Lempor exhaust system, new improved valve gear with longer travel and new hollow piston valves and liners. The cab has been widened as well making it more comfortable for taller drivers. Everyone is looking forward to the steam test to see how it performs. Always a popular engine to drive, the modifications should improve efficiency and performance. There cannot fail to be an improvement, it's just a matter of how much!

 

Great to see it out.
From the pic, and comparing to my pics from previous visits, it looks like the cab's been raised a bit, rather than widened: is that right?
Is this loco coal fired now?
Looking forward to a visit later in the year.

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I think the raising of 8’s cab has improved its looks.