I forgot about the football, and so shared the train down to Gloucester with all the people off to Cardiff...
Changing at Gloucester I caught the local stopping to Lydney. Oh, the fun of Pacers... Though to be fair this one had proper train seats instead bus seats like the last one I had to travel on
I got to Lydney with about an hour before the first train, so I walked up to Norchard to catch the train back down into town. Waiting for me on the High Level platfrom was the Class 108 DMU, so I got on and took it all the way back down to Lydney Junction, about 100 yards from the mainline station I had just come from!
Waiting in the station was 9642, a Pannier tank painted in unlined early BR livery:
Click the image to zoom in
Click the image to zoom in
I got off the DMU and watched 9642 run around.
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 10high.wmv
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 310low.wmv
I then took this service back to Norchard Low Level.
Click the image to zoom in
The engine then ran around again:
Click the image to zoom in
Click the image to zoom in
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 16high.wmv
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 316low.wmv
Norchard is a very interesting station as it is on two levels. The Low Level platform is used by the steam hauled service which goes between here and Lydney. The High Level platfrom is used by the DMU service which goes further up the orginal line to its present terminus at Whitecroft a few miles away to the north. This service is a DMU at the moment as the extension to Parkend is not yet ready, and there are no facilities at all at Whitecroft, so steam engines cannot run around.
Click the image to zoom in
Click the image to zoom in
The photos above show the two levels of Norchard. The northern extension can be seen snaking around a corner on the extreme left of the first photo.
The DMU came back from Lydney, so I caught it for a ride up to Whitecroft.
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 23high.wmv
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 323low.wmv
But not until I had watched the steam service leave for Lydney:
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 25high.wmv
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 325low.wmv
After we returned to Norchard I felt in the mood for a walk, so I followed the line side path up to Upper Forge where there are some ruins. From here the path crosses the railway and enters the forest. After a while, I came back onto the path, and on to the road, which I followed into Whitecroft and onto Parkend. At Parkend there is a nice station area, with station building signal box and goods shed. This will become the northern terminus in the near future.
On the way back down the lineside path, the DMU passed me on the way up to Whitecroft:
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 26high.wmv
http://rail3d.richsoftcomputing.co.uk/v ... 326low.wmv
When I got back to Norchard I caught the DMU back to Lydney Junction as I had missed the steam hauled service by a couple of seconds.
I then made my back home on the mainline via Gloucester and Birmingham.
Another good day out, but I think I may have walked a little too far
Cheers
Richard