TRIP 527

Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire

10th June 2017

 

Bristol Parkway
HST's ; 43078/098.
Road-railer ; Quattro Plant : 468/940324-5.

Cauldwell Walk Depot Sidings - Bedford (VIEW)
DEMU ; 222009.
EMU's ; 319459/377516/700114.
On-Track Plant ; 73940/79267/79277.

Bedford Station
DMU ; 153354.
EMU's ; 377510/516/700025/106.

It was at this point that the party split with some people opting for the Bedford station flyer option and the rest going on to a couple of locations. The the visit sightings are given first followed by the Bedford station sightings.

Springfield Agricultural Railway, Easton (VISIT)
Locos ; (2' 0" gauge) ; CE SP 203 - B0176A/1974 (ex-Pg 25 17EL), Moes No.10 - 4wDM/???? , Moes 12 - 4wDM/????, Spoor 112/1952, WR 3557/1946.
(600mm gauge ; 2 - Diema 1553/1953.
Wagons ; (2' 0" gauge) ; 09, 10, 12 ['V' skip tipping wagons], 11, 55 [4wh flat wagons], 13 [three plank open wagon], 17 [tool van] - under construction inside the shed.

Thanks go to Steve Tomason for organising and hosting our visit.

Bannolds Garden Landscaping & Services Ltd, Fen Drayton (VISIT)
BR Coaches ; 3065 Louis, 15626 Oliver, 24458 Lancelot.
GER Grounded Coach Bodies ; 38 or 138 6wh 4 Compartment Luggage Composite/c1890 (carrying LNER number 63947) - Ex North Lopham in Norfolk. The number needs verifying, it was carrying the number 38 C stamped on one end of the solebar, but it was uncertain if there was the figure 1 in front of it, UI 4wh 5 Compartment Suburban 2nd of 1899 (carries plate on one end on metal solebar) - there are two chains of thought regarding this vehicle Preserved Railway Stocklist has it coming from Stowbridge Builders yard and yet according to the owner it came from Frinton-on-Sea in Essex, where it was used as a bungalow.
BR Grounded Wagon Body ; B774759.
There is also a UI Marshall portable engine on static display in the greenhouses area of the site.

Thanks go to Michael Attle for organising and hosting our visit.

Ray Maslen & Friends, Arlesey
A chance meeting with another society member at the Springfield Agricultural Railway, resulted in the party getting directions to this location as well as the information that they are friendly and approachable. So armed with this information it was decided by the party to drop a few places from the itinerary at this point and go to this location instead. However despite the directions (which were a little bit vague I must admit), the party found themselves driving around and asking local people for over an hour, only to sadly come away having not managed to find it. A little bit of work from the events secretary after the trip managed to pinpoint its exact location (the party had annoyingly and unwittingly driven past it about half a dozen times on the day without realising it), the society member that we met at the Springfield railway has also since the trip provided the events secretary with a contact phone number - so he will be looking at trying to arrange a visit there in the future.

Stockwood Discovery Centre, Luton (VISIT)
Tram ; Luton Corporation Tramways No.6/1908 - this is the restored lower deck body of an Open Topped Double Decker, the trucks are from Oporto 161 - it is on display under its own canopy in the garden area.
There are also a couple of Aveling & Porter steam road rollers on display here as well as cars and the Mossman Collection of Horse Drawn vehicles (which includes the Replica Wells Fargo carriage that was used in the carry on film 'Carry on Cowboy') - which starred Jim Dale as the Sherriff and Sid James as the Rumpole Kid.

Fancott Arms Miniature Railway, Toddington (VISIT)
Locos ; (7.1/4" gauge) ; D7031 Dark Star - 4w-4DH Mardyke/1989, Herbie - 4w-4DH SL 1023/1984,{re-built RVM Engineering 10/2016}, No.3 The Phoenix - 0-6-0PH (Ex Tregoss - from Lancashire).
Carriages ; (7.1/4" gauge") ; 1, 2, 3, 4 - all sit astride, 5 - ride in.

Due to time getting on (having spent so much time trying to locate the Ray Maslen location) - the party then re-joined the others at Bedford station. Below are the sightings from the people who spent the day at this location and when the party re-joined them for the last hour and a half of the day.

Bedford Station (Approx 10.30 - 18.30)
Loco ; 66144.
HST's ; 43012/045/046/048/049/050/059/061/064/066/076/081/089/156.
DMU' ;150109,222001/003/004/005/006/008/010/011/012/013/015/017/018/019/020/022/023/101/102/103.
EMU's ; 319215/377511/513/515/519/521/522/700002/006/007/009/014/015/021/030/039/046/103/104/108/112.
Coaching Stock ; 40700/728/741/749/754. 41046/064/069/070/077/079/111/113/117. 42100/120/121/124/135/136/151/152/153/155/156/157/163/164/165/220/384. 44044/047/054/071/085.
Wagons ; 310036/085/099/148/196/202/222/271/319/338/375/435/536/627/643/653/804/982/311052/077/149/385.

Patchway Station
DMU ; 158952.
Road-railers ; Keltbray Rail : E1321/911303-4, E1322/911323-3, E1323/911324-0, E1324/940818-6, E1333/940458-3. Total Rail Solutions : TRS 705/940636-2. TXM Plant : 7120/940844-2.
Trailers ; Keltbray Rail : E1347/010362-0, T1008/010977-5, T1009/010978-3. Amalgamated Construction : 711014/040045-5, 711015/040046-3.