Another Afternoon At The Great Central Railway
Today was sunny and warm so I took another little trip to the GCR at Loughborough. 48305 stood proudly in the platform with the 11:15am train and I rode with her for one full round trip to Leicester North and back. The 8F obviously had no trouble working the 6-coach load and was making little, if no, bark at all. Once back at Loughborough, I took a trip down to the shed to see what was going on. Two beautiful overhaul projects, the Fairburn No42085 and the N2 Tank, stood proudly on the two outer roads. 42085 (seen below) is now complete and is wearing her new water tanks beautifully, as well as her newly applied BR Black livery. She is one of two 2-6-4 Fairburn tanks which made it into preservation. She lives at the Lakeside & Havertwaite Railway in Cumbria, along with sister Fairburn No42073. They have received the nickname "Caged Lions" as they have not left their L & H Railway home since preservation, at least, until 42085 came to the GCR for overhaul.
Also in the shed was 4-6-0 King Arthur No30777 "Sir Lamiel" with Prairie No4141 sitting outside. Other projects such as the Standard 5, Black 5 & Jinty were also scattered around the shed. I don't know where 63601 (the 8K/04) was, but, she definately wasn't seen all day! 78019 was also out & about on "Driver Experience" duties as well as working selected passenger trains. An unusual addition to the day was a large amount of linside fires, probably caused by the locomotives. At one point, the two trains stopped alongside eachother at Woodthorpe to assess a new outbreak. The fire brigade were well on task however and managed to put out each fire in turn. Anyway, once I had been around the shed it was back to the 8F where I joined the footplate crew for a look at the controls (see article below) before boarding the coaches again for the short run to Quorn with the 1:15pm service. After alighting a had a cup of tea in the lovely NAAFI tea room (see article below) whilst awaiting the arrival of the 2:22pm from Loughborough, hauled by 78019. I caught this train to Rothley where I alighted again, watching the Standard 2 depart. 
I then took a look at the superb 45mm 'G' Gauge Garden Railway in the station grounds before being picked up. It was then a short country drive to Kinchley Lane Bridge (a favourite among railway photographers) where the image at the top of this article (48305 working to Leicester North) was taken. It was lovely and sunny and it is just a shame that the 8F wasn't working chimney first! Oh well, a nice image anyway...I'll have to come back to this bridge during one of the gala's and sample the many different trains from a lineside perspective! Once the 8F had gone I rejoined my family and we returned home. Another nice day at the GCR! More posts coming soon...Thanks for reading.
Today was sunny and warm so I took another little trip to the GCR at Loughborough. 48305 stood proudly in the platform with the 11:15am train and I rode with her for one full round trip to Leicester North and back. The 8F obviously had no trouble working the 6-coach load and was making little, if no, bark at all. Once back at Loughborough, I took a trip down to the shed to see what was going on. Two beautiful overhaul projects, the Fairburn No42085 and the N2 Tank, stood proudly on the two outer roads. 42085 (seen below) is now complete and is wearing her new water tanks beautifully, as well as her newly applied BR Black livery. She is one of two 2-6-4 Fairburn tanks which made it into preservation. She lives at the Lakeside & Havertwaite Railway in Cumbria, along with sister Fairburn No42073. They have received the nickname "Caged Lions" as they have not left their L & H Railway home since preservation, at least, until 42085 came to the GCR for overhaul.
Also in the shed was 4-6-0 King Arthur No30777 "Sir Lamiel" with Prairie No4141 sitting outside. Other projects such as the Standard 5, Black 5 & Jinty were also scattered around the shed. I don't know where 63601 (the 8K/04) was, but, she definately wasn't seen all day! 78019 was also out & about on "Driver Experience" duties as well as working selected passenger trains. An unusual addition to the day was a large amount of linside fires, probably caused by the locomotives. At one point, the two trains stopped alongside eachother at Woodthorpe to assess a new outbreak. The fire brigade were well on task however and managed to put out each fire in turn. Anyway, once I had been around the shed it was back to the 8F where I joined the footplate crew for a look at the controls (see article below) before boarding the coaches again for the short run to Quorn with the 1:15pm service. After alighting a had a cup of tea in the lovely NAAFI tea room (see article below) whilst awaiting the arrival of the 2:22pm from Loughborough, hauled by 78019. I caught this train to Rothley where I alighted again, watching the Standard 2 depart. 
I then took a look at the superb 45mm 'G' Gauge Garden Railway in the station grounds before being picked up. It was then a short country drive to Kinchley Lane Bridge (a favourite among railway photographers) where the image at the top of this article (48305 working to Leicester North) was taken. It was lovely and sunny and it is just a shame that the 8F wasn't working chimney first! Oh well, a nice image anyway...I'll have to come back to this bridge during one of the gala's and sample the many different trains from a lineside perspective! Once the 8F had gone I rejoined my family and we returned home. Another nice day at the GCR! More posts coming soon...Thanks for reading. 
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