Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Railfest 2004

If you know what this is:

or even if you don't, you might find my photos from a visit to the National Railway Museum's Railfest 2004 a week or so ago to be of interest.

This was a week-long event held to mark the 200th anniversary of Trevithick's first steam railway locomotive, for which they'd assembled a whole bunch of locomotives, rolling stock and other railway-related miscellanea. I was mostly there for the modern traction (steam engines don't excite me that much, with the notable exception of the class A4s), which fortunately put me a in a minority - the huge crowds were mostly reserved for the steam displays, as a lot of people turned up to get all reminiscent about how wonderful steam haulage was, and how it wasn't rather grubby and acrid. Then again, if it hadn't been for getting some steam-loco-generated crud in her eye Celia Johnson would never have met Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter, which would have made the fillm much less interesting.

(As an aside, you certainly see some loonies at events where rail enthusiasts congregate. Would anyone believe me if I said "we aren't all like that!"?)

Posted by mpk at June 12, 2004 12:53 AM | TrackBack