© Geoff’s Rail Diaries 2014
I had a feeling, when I sent for the tickets (”invitations”) a
couple of weeks earlier, that it was going to rain for this one.
When the day approached, the forecast was truly
dire - thunderstorms and heavy rain. We were
woken by thunder on the morning of the open day,
and, having studied the forecast, decided to aim
for a lunchtime arrival. The BBC thought the day
would improve in the afternoon.
We approached Tamworth in heavy rain, which eased
off as we drove into the car park field (thinks: this
could be tricky later on) - but it was still raining. With
the intention of staying reasonably dry, we rode the train down
to the loop and back, trying to see what was going one through
misted carriage windows. The big shed at Oak Tree would
provide more shelter, and there were old friends to meet and
pass some time with. By the time we’d walked back to the loco
shed, it was dry enough to stand outside to eat lunch. But it was
still grey, dismal, gloomy...
Then, after a walk back down to Oak Tree, the BBC
was proved correct - the clouds melted away to
reveal a blue sky and warm sunshine (and lots of
rapidly overheating gricers - not a pleasant sight...)
We had not quite an hour of sunshine before (lighter)
clouds began to gather. It probably wouldn’t rain
again, but before too long, the days events would
come to an end. My mind turned to the car park once
more - it wouldn’t take many over-heavy right feet to turn it to
quagmire. We’d call it a day - one which, in the event, proved to
be much better than it could have been.
Link: Statfold Barn Railway
