| I made my first visit back to the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway, which is located near to the town of Skipton in North Yorkshire, since the mid-1990s, for day One of the two-day annual Diesel Gala there on Saturday 25th of July 2009. Just for a change the weather was near on perfect, with sunshine and blue skies for much of the day, followed by a glorious evening for the 'Beerex', which ended the day.
It looks like we definitely picked the right day for our visit, since Day Two was back to a more normal grey, wet and miserable once again, and with such nice weather (and more importantly, nice light), I did of course get a bit carried away and took far too many pictures once again (don't I always?) 
Locos taking part this time were Class 37 '37294', which was in 'Dutch' livery, and Newton Heath Diesel Traction Group's Class 31 'D5600', along with their Class 47 D1524, Class 31 '31119' and Class 08 '08773' (which sadly failed after its first couple of runs). The bigger locos hauled most of the passenger services between Embsay and Bolton Abbey, whilst No.36, D2203 and 08773 took the shuttle down to Bow Bridge near to the Skipton mainline and back again to Embsay. The other performer, which also took severeal services to Bolton Abbey, and also double headed one trip there with D2203, was Embsay's ex-BR/NCB No. 38 (D9513), which also looked quite impressive, especially in the bright sunshine. At just £12 for a Day Rover ticket the event was excellent value, and there were quite a few really good photographic locations on this picturesque line to choose from. The evening saw several runs from the 'Beerex', which was hauled by 37294, there was an extra charge for this, but it seemed to be well filled with the usual crowd of characters, who seemed to be having a great time as they hung out of the windows in their various guises, and with their various stuffed animals and aliens!
All in all an excellent day out, and what a great selection of railway books and videos they have in the shop at Embsay Station - if you are planning a trip there in the near future do pay it a visit, but don't take too much money with you or you'll want to buy everything in the shop (I did!)!
As I said previously, this was my first visit since the mid-90s (1995 if I recall right), and at that time the line didn't go as far as Bolton Abbey, but with plans afoot to gain a connection to Skipton in the future, and with a nice shiny new engine shed and an impressive new station at Bolton Bridge, this railway has certainly come on in leaps and bounds, and I'm sure it won't be another 14 years before my next visit. Well done Embsay a grand day out, and my thanks to all your volunteers and staff for their efforts. |
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25th July 2009 - this poor old gronk failed shortly after this was taken. 1024x763 IMGP1560.jpg |
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25th July 2009 - preparing to change the tokens! 1024x790 IMGP1653.jpg |
25th July 2009 - bet that lad wishes he had a catapult with him!:-) 1024x791 IMGP1654.jpg |
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25th July 2009 - where's Conwy? 1024x690 IMGP1688.jpg |
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25th July 2009 - the evening 'Beerex' 1024x768 IMGP1738.jpg |
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