© Geoff’s Rail Diaries 2012 It’s a little while since our last visit to the Midland Railway at Butterley - for the grand opening of the new loco shed on the 2’ gauge Golden Valley Railway, back in July 2007. This time, the IRS AGM was the purpose - incorporating a visit to the railway, and a ride on the standard gauge line hauled by industrial steam. It’s good to see these little locos earning their keep - we’d been promised the RSH No 1 from Castle Donington (7817 of 1954) - in the event, the much-older Peckett “Whitehead” (1163 of 1908) would see action too. Of course, there’s little authenticity in such operations, so it hardly mattered that the coaching stock comprised a 3-car DMU... As well as taking a ride, there was an opportunity to inspect some of the other stock on site. Some, that is, in that the Swanwick Junction site is huge and sprawling. I could have seen more, at the expense of the buffet lunch. The lunch won. And the AGM? - yes, in the “Tin Tabernacle”, the corrugated iron church from Westhouses. I guess the hard wooden pews contributed to brisk and businesslike proceedings...   Links: • Midland Railway Butterley • Golden Valley Railway • Industrial Railway Society