Takabout Steam Trains
TALKABOUT STEAM TRAINS Full steam ahead Long before railway innovation and effi ciency moved from Britain to Japan, France and China, speed records were set in the British countryside by trains with names such as Flying Scotsman. From the Midlands to Devon, steam train enthusiasts are trying to bring back those days of locomotive engineering grandeur. WORDS CHRIS WRIGHT Steam locomotive 38021, Llangollen Railway, Wales PHOTOGRAPHY: DAVID WILCOCK DAVID PHOTOGRAPHY: JUNE 2015 QANTAS 127 Launceston Steam Railway Severn Valley Railway on the River Severn Carrog Station, Llangollen Railway ON MODEST SECTIONS of reconditioned track in the British countryside, original stream engines and carriages chug between stations rebuilt with painstaking accuracy to refl ect the way they looked in the golden era of steam trains, the fi rst four decades of the 20th century. Most are staffed by volunteers, from engine drivers to ticket collectors to those who maintain stations and tracks. and whose staff are handing out minced pies and mulled wine. This devotion only adds to the appeal. And, mostly, any revenue is Llangollen is a town on the River Dee, a stone bridge built in 1345 ploughed back into preservation. spanning its torrents. The water is livid and foaming as it vaults a weir. Steam trains attract all ages, but there’s a certain dynamic seen A famous pub restaurant, the Corn Mill, is on the bank of the river time and again: those who can remember, keen to convey to their opposite the station, with a waterwheel spinning and some of the descendants the wonders of the steam age.
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