Beer, food, trains…
Somewhere I have been meaning to get to again for some time, is Middleton Railway. This little heritage line, tucked away in the arse-end-of-the-least-salubroious-area of Leeds is actually the oldest surviving railway in the world. Built as a horse drawn waggonway in 1758 to serve the then coal mines in Middleton woods only a short branch remains, but it is well worth seeing.
And the promise of a Yorkshire Food an Beer event made it all the better.
Running most of the day was this little Brooks No.1 steam shunter. The journey from the Station into Middleton park only takes a few minutes, but who cares on a lovely day with beer and food.
For some reason I didn’t actually take any pictures in the woods – at some point I would like to visit again and explore some of the old workings a bit more. Though I did manage to get some coal (it’s still very evident in the dips) to make pigment from.
Many of the locos were moved out the was for the event – they have a fair collection of small industrial locomotives, but a few were on display and this tiny brewery engine – Hunslet No.1786 ‘Courage’ also known as ‘Sweet Pea’was just too cute!
This diesel – the Hudswell-Clarke No.D1373 ‘MD&HB 45’ came out later too. So of course we had to stay longer to ride behind it.
All in all it was a nice day. I think there could have benefitted from some more stalls to make the food part more of a thing, but for a tenner (2 quid more than a standard rover ticket for the line) it was a nice way to spend a day.