Old Dalby Test Track

Bit of a fun 'what-if' here. As we know most of our railways are limited to 25mph with a few exceptions on one or two occasionally. What I'm thinking is a weekend or so a year at Old Dalby is opened for those who have big engines that are never going to go mainline to stretch their legs, (or those with smaller engines who badly want to thrash it a bit....)
Can't ever see it being allowed, and never mind the transport costs, but it would be bloody fun!

 

Trackdays for Trains...
I can think of a dozen reasons why it wouldn't happen, but it would be fun...

On the subject of motorsport ideas for railways, I've always thought a hill-climb might be fun.

They don't actually have to go up hills, but it's a time-trial along a country lane.

Imagine a timed run up a decent bank from a standing start with a fair-sized load. Would be quite spectacular to watch, especially with a big grid.

It's a shame The Island is 3' - they tend to be very open-minded on matters of motorsport...

 

When we (the Dean Forest) get as far as Serridge Bank, I put that forward as a contender!

 

I'd suggest Foxfield Railway, the climb out of Foxfield Colliery as a venue.
(I'm good at volunteering others )

 

You can just imagine the faces on the PW gang -- "you volunteered our nice track for *what*?"

 

At the Welsh Highland Superpower weekend in 2011 they held the "King of the Hill" competition, to see which locos or combination of locos performed the best on the 5 miles of 1 in 40 from Beddgelert to Rhyd Ddu. See here for the results: http://www.whrsoc.org.uk/WHRProject/superpower11.html

Steve B

 

Well, the Prescott hillclimb course is within sight of the GWSR, so clearly there's scope for a joint attack on the title!