Engines at Rest at Statfold Barn...

Hi all. Today was the occasion of the first annual 'Cleaning Day' at the lovely Statfold Barn Railway. The idea behind this was to bring together the countless volunteers that operate the railway on its open days, and put their efforts to good use cleaning the ever growing fleet of locomotives. The all day event would take place in the sanctuary of the Oak Tree Roundhouse, where most of the collection is now housed. Despite the awful weather outside: a mixture of wind and pouring rain: the engines were kept cosy and dry inside their shed. I arrived at just before 10am, with many cars already parked up in Oak Tree yard. Inside the shed, the ex-Shackerstone contingent were already at work cleaning the big Peckett. Well known late arrival 'Eddie the Late' had been surprisingly punctual today and was busy working away on the Peckett's vacuum piping...

All around the shed, the various members of the fleet were being cleaned up. They were being treated like royalty and were being polished from top to bottom. Having completed the cleaning of "Harrogate", we wandered over to start on the 2ft 6" O & K 0-4-0 No614. From atop the cab roof of 614, we can see the Peckett in the company of "Isibutu" and Hunslet's last steam loco built for export; "Trangkil No4"...

As is traditional with SBR events, lunch was laid on and the terrible trio were eating together. I'm not sure whether or not Ed has anything in his hand but he looks like he's enjoying it. JB on the other hand was stuffing down several Mince Pies, in an attempt to get into the festive spirit!...

After lunch, with the rain still beating hard on the roof, we continued cleaning No614 before moving on again to the ex-Bala Peckett "Triassic". The little Peckett isn't currently steamable but deserved a clean up nonetheless. Elsewhere in the shed, the Fiji pair had been buffed up beautifully and looked a real picture as they await their next outings...

All in all this was a very pleasant little day out. I left the SBR at around 4pm, still in pouring rain. The SBR fleet now look pristine again and I look forward to being out on one of them again in April (hopefully!). Many thanks to the lads today for their company and comedic actions. All the best, Sam...