For 18 years, our trains ran clockwise around the circuit.

During quiet pandemic times, in between lockdowns, our enthusiastic volunteers finally completed a track triangle. You can see the start of it in the photo on the left. Since we lack a turntable, this has been the first way that we’ve been able to turn our locomotives without using a crane.

Travelling for so many years the same way around the circuit wears the wheels unevenly, so this is an important upgrade for our fleet.

Important, also, for our volunteers and visitors, bringing a different perspective to the journey.

We had some fun shunting, working out stopping points on the platform and getting used to different driving behaviours as the drivers took the train around. Some said the track seemed smoother than ever, but we’re not sure if this was excitement or a result of good track work during the long downtime.

Now our Fowler steam loco goes anticlockwise while the diesels and petrol locos go clockwise, though not at the same time!

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Some of the shunting to get the carriages in the right sequence.

The first anticlockwise run.