Sent to Coventry

Rarely have we visited anywhere which looks more like it sprang from the pages of a classic Ladybird childrens book. It's almost like a caricature of the 1960's.

Of course there's a reason why everything is a bit 60's concrete brutalism, but we wont get into the politics.

We'd got a morning for a stroll around the city following the Stoneleigh garden railway show. The weather was mice, and the city quiet on a Sunday morning,

If anything, the place was a little too quiet; nobody seemed to be in a hurry to get up and open the shops.

Again, Ladybird... looks like this ought to have a caption like "let's go to the shops with Mummy and Bill the Dog".

A bit more 70's, with the orange and grey.

Love this building; it looks almost like a film-set fake backdrop.

There's lots of nice details hidden about the place in amongst all the brutalism and concrete.

It's been a while since we'd been to Coventry, and it was nice to just go and have a stroll, followed by a sit and a drink in a cafe. Would be nice to pop back and do it again, maybe after the show next year.

 

The Vale of Rheidol Railway; April 2026

As mentioned in the last post, we also paid a visit to the Vale of Rheidol Railway whilst we were in Aberystwyth. With us being regulars now with writing for Garden Rail. we're constantly on the hunt for subject matter for articles, and where better than a fantastic, relatively-new museum?

The locomotive on the train, no.7, was looking pretty glorious in the Spring sunshine.

And inside the railway museum, with a very interesting selection of subject matter, including the rather lovely old "Fire Queen". This used to be exhibited up at Penrhyn Castle, it's nice to see it here for a while (before it moves to a new home at Llanberis).

We've a kit of this wee thing, so more of this on the model blog later in the year...

Most of the straightforward reference pics are over on the model-blog, so here's some of the more arty close-ups...

Back outside; we're planning to do a proper ride on this railway at some point later this year, so hopefully more pics to follow.

 

A trip to Aberystwyth

During Easter, we paid a little visit to Aberystwyth, researching a couple of projects we're doing for the mags. The main part of the trip was to photograph on the promenade... luckily, we had a hell of a day for it.

We needed specifically to get some pics of the shelters on the promenade...

...graffiti and all.

Again, a lovely day for a trip to the seaside.

Because this is one of our trips, part two of the visit required stopping off at Aberystwyth Station... more on which next time.

 

KWVR Spring Steam Gala 2026; lineside on the Sunday

Having ridden the trains, I (Ben) wanted to get at least a few lineside pics, so went back out on the Sunday. The visiting Castle, 5029, was rostered for the early morning goods, and I was having a bit of an indecisive moment over where to go. I toyed with the countryside, up near Haworth, but looking at the timetable realised I'd see more down in Keighley itself.

"Nunney Castle" storming out of Keighley Station looked very impressive indeed.

The lighting was pretty reasonable too, though even at this stage, the clouds were forming...

I walked up to one of my usual spots...

For the inbound vintage train.

"Dora" was due next, with some more vintage coaches, seen here propelling slowly past the erstwhile "Globe" pub.

This annoyed me. I had a nice shot lined up, making the most of the old GNR cutting, a nice head-on shot... then one of the orange-high-vis-brigade rocked up and decided to stand right in the middle of the pic 5 minutes before the train was due. I'm sure some of them do it on purpose, just to make a point to we lesser mortals who don't have the Gilded Lineside Photo Permit.

The light was going by the time I got back down to Keighley.

I was, however, trying to make the most of the stone retaining walls for a bit of grimy Northern atmosphere.

"Nunney Castle" shunting the goods. I'd repaired to the station for a brew, a sit-down, and a cheeky purchase from one of the sales stands; I'd spotted a rather nice old Dublo 4mt on the stand on Friday, and told myself if it was still there Sunday, I'd treat myself to it.

After some pics around the station, and a spot of food shopping, I decided to get a last few pics, but by now the sun was gone. Worth it for the Black 5 facing the wrong way to usual (the big locomotives usually point boiler-first up the climb), opening up a new angle for me.

I did try a few more pics after this, but the Tuppaware Sky was annoying me. Still, another good, busy Gala, and roll-on the Diesels in a few months...

KWVR Spring 2026 Steam Gala

We hadn't expected to make it to the Keighly and Worth Valley Railway Spring Steam Gala this year; normally, I (Ben) like to try and get a couple of weekdays off work to lineside on the Thurs and Fri, then we ride as a family on the other days.

This year though, a lack of staff at work meant that looked like a no-go. Then I earned so much TOIL I needed to take it somewhere, and by happy chance, it coincided with Amy having an Inset Day as well, so we were able to ride the trains Friday instead. 

After weeks of terrible weather, the sun was (largely) out on the Friday, and we were able to get some pics, mainly project-fodder for upcoming magazine work.

The railway had laid on a pair of visitors for this year, SR Pacific "Braunton" and GWR "Nunney Castle". 

Impressive as these engines are, I always struggle a bit at this time of year. Unless you catch the lighting right, it can be a bit tricky to photograph dark green locomotives against the dead surroundings. Though it helped mainly getting station shots on the Friday and Saturday, as the more urban backgrounds helped the locomotives stand out.

"Nunney Castle" was particularly impressive, and useful to get some shots for a project for Hornby that's coming up.

This was the machine we were most interested in catching though, Avonside "Dora". Very much a toy, and a rich-mans plaything (it's the privately owned loco of a millionaire owner, temporarily based on our railway), it's a lovely, characterful thing.

It was particularly impressive, shunting stock around Keighley Station, effectively on station-pilot duties.

"Anne", the Sentinel, was out as well, and provided a useful opportunity to get some pics.

The Friday and Saturday were mainly spent riding the trains (and buying bits from the VCT shop), and it was a lovely, lively atmosphere, with busy trains. I decided to come back Sunday morning for a few lineside pics too, and they'll be in the next update...