Sunday was cooler and pleasanter than Saturday. We still had plenty of sunshine but the temperature was in the low twenties rather than the thirty degrees centigrade of the day before.
After a week of wall and step building I was in need of a bit of steam train photography but with steam locomotives banished from the main line in Yorkshire due to the fire risk they cause it meant a visit to a Heritage railway. I decided on a visit to the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway, somewhere we hadn't been before.
The journey to Lincolnshire meant using the M180 River Trent bridge crossing and as this is a bridge I helped build over 30 years ago now. We broke our motorway journey to see how the old girl is aging. From what I could see she’s still looking pretty good.
After working on this bridge I worked on developing computer simulation techniques to assist in the design and construction of these sorts of bridges. Trent Bridge was the first of its type to be built in this country.
After a short stop we were back on our way to Ludborough Station on the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway. I knew from a bit of web research that it is only a small heritage railway operating steam trains between Ludborough and North Thoresby a distance of about 5 miles.
I always have my doubts when visiting one of these small heritage lines just what we will find. Will it just be men with oily rags and without any efforts to welcome anyone other than a true steam locomotive aficionado. That’s not what I'm looking for. As it happens the railway seems pretty family orientated with a museum, a little snack bar in an old railway coach and very importantly some friendly staff.
After watching one train depart off up the track to North Thoresby we headed for the “Steaming Kettle” buffet for a sandwich, some homemade cake and drinks whilst we waited for the train to return. After lunch we caught the next train along the short stretch of track. The railway seemed to be busy with visitors of all ages eager for their trip on the train.
Our plan was to move on to nearby Cleethorpes for the afternoon to have a little look around the town and a walk along the promenade. The journey to Cleethorpes was uneventful and didn’t give any indication of the masses of people who had descended on this seaside town.
There weren't any obvious car parking spaces to be had but as Sue commented even if you found somewhere to park there wasn't any space left on the footpath to walk on in any case. We didn't stop to explore I much prefer the rather gentler surrounding of the Heritage railway than the chaos of Cleethorpes on a busy summer’s day.
Posts
Wow, that's very impressive, and how lovely to be able to go and look at something you've actually helped to create. The train part of your day sounds very enjoyable, but Cleethorpes looks scarily busy. I don't think I'd have stopped there either.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think Cleethorpes ever got that busy.
Delete