Mangapps Railway Museum 31st August 2015

Mangapps Railway Museum currently houses probably the biggest celebrity of the class 31 world; 31430! While not much of  a line to be sampling class 31’s on, an opportunity arose to go an have a look at what goes on down there and with 31430 having been recently painted into BR Blue it would have been rude not to.

The weather was nothing short of positively miserable all day and it rained almost constantly. That didn’t dampen the spirits of the staff at the museum though and they did a sterling job of keeping the trains going all day, including all the loco swaps and set changes that took place to keep the standing around to a minimum; some big railways could have certainly learnt a thing or two from these guys!

Locos operating on Monday 31st August were:

03081, 03089, 03197, Class 04 D2325 & 31430 (47596 was out of service)

Industrial Locos Ex Army 1945 Vulcan Foundray #5261/Drewry Car Co. #2180 (Carrying AD226) & Ex CEGB Hudswell Clarke of Elland Power Station D1153

Steam – Andrew Barclay 1943 0-4-0 ST ex NCB No.47 of Kinneill Colliery #2157

Despite the weather the railway were very accommodating and were more than happy to have a go a rectifying a fault with 03081 to get it out in the afternoon once fixed. 31430 wasn’t up to much, as you’d expect on a siding, but I look forward to it venturing out to be cleaned out at a bigger railway. By the end of the day though I was more than ready for the off; a word of warning, the railway only sells tea, crisps & biscuits in the buffet car so go prepared; unless there’s a BBQ going on as there sometimes is.

Photos from the day: