Tyseley: The Future Vision...

Hi all. Just a short post from today about my volunteer Saturday visit to Tyseley. I arrived at around 10:30am and was immediately struck by the sight of 5043 simmering nicely at the rear of the shed. The Castle was in steam for the "Vision of the Future" event which would take place during the afternoon. Myself & Tom were set to work on sister Castle No7029. "Clun" is creeping ever nearer to a return to steam and hopes are still set on 2017 being her year of destiny. Exciting stuff. Out in the car park, Phil was steaming his Aveling & Porter 'F-Type' roller "Louise", built in 1925...

I was grateful to Phil for allowing me to steam slowly back & forth up the car park with his pride & joy. The roller has come on leaps and bounds since Phil has had it and today she was proudly wearing her GWR valve gear covers. Its a pleasant engine to be on. Phil has done a lot of work to make this engine better and it now turns over very quietly in 'top'. Thanks Phil for another go on your engine! I left Tyseley at around 3pm as we had a family party to get to in the evening. Next week we have the delights of the Statfold Open Day where I'm rostered to drive CSR No19 - the Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0 that came from Fiji. I'm looking forward to it! Cheers all, Sam...