Rail Ale: From "Bahamas" To Bosworth...

After the recent weeks of good weather, this weekend could only be described as sodden. The rain started in the week and didn't seem to stop at all. This morning I was piloting my mum and her partner as they convoyed with me to catch a train at Coleshill Parkway. It was mums 50th last week and myself & Maisie had bought her a Premier Dining outing with "Bahamas" to York: a full day rail tour being wined and dined to a good destination seemed appropriate! As we waited on the damp platform, a familiar hooter was heard before 45596 rolled in from Tyseley, driven by Ray Churchill. The Jubilee looked immaculate as usual, even in the persistent rain...

With the pair safely aboard the train (they were worried they wouldn't find the station!) I watched "Bahamas" disappear off into the distance before heading back to my car. I decided then to have a ride over to Market Bosworth to see Batesy and friends. This weekend was the Battlefield Lines annual Rail Ale do in the goods yard and an assortment of road steamers attend from far and wide: Batesys roller being one of them. I arrived a little after 10:30, finding a saturated goods yard alive with mud and puddles. It's pretty rubbish when you spend time preparing for an event and then the weather ruins it. This years GMW was much the same, with the field becoming quite saturated in the weeks before set up. Today though was something else, with the rain lashing down. Batesy seemed to be the bravest (or maddest) of the lot, attempting to clean his brasses despite the poor conditions. He must have been soaked...

Brasses cleaned and Vaseline applied, we retreated into the Goods Shed for breakfast. The railway were offering various levels of full English and we went for one of the larger varieties, which was very nice. Inside the shed there were many ales on offer from all over the UK. After breakfast I opted for a pint of Snowdonia, brewed by Purple Moose of Porthmadog. This ale was always the pint of choice in The Eagles pub in Llanuwchllyn during the Bala years so always brings back good memories. It was quite pleasant actually, standing under the goods shed canopy with a good pint watching Batesy get soaked through in the rain. He did exchange some choice words, but these can't be aired before the watershed. "Here's to you Batesy, you mad fool"...

 

Over on the railway, 5542 was shuffling back and forth with the drenched rake of coaches. The train certainly was the place to be today. Did someone say it was July?! After my delicious pint and a yak with various faces old and new (I always seem to bump into somebody I know!), I decided it was time to head for home. So, in the words of steam rally favourite Dr Busker: "It's ****ing raining and I wanna' go home". Thanks all for reading and hopefully future Rail Ales will be sunnier...