Chuffys instead of Chiffys

Swapped hobby’s and joined the enthusiastic crowd at the Great Central Railway, Loughborough for their GCR Autumn Steam Gala and had a thoroughly enjoyable few hours wandering around the shed and Station enjoying the coming and goings of at least eight engines in steam plus many others in various stages of restoration. Other attractions included many stalls selling railway memorabilia where I managed to locate a copy of Railway Nostalgia in Warwickshire by D Hibbs which features many pictures of the places and trains I used to see when I use to be freckled faced youngster and had met the author many times while birding locally around Flecknoe with out realizing who he was.

There was one engine present that I had not seen before in preservation, Battle of Britain class 34070 Manston. It was built in November 1947 and withdrawn from service in August 1964 to Woodhams yard on Barry Island where it rotted away till moved for restoration in 1986. Other sightings down memory lane included coal wagons that I use earn pocket money on and a rake of TPO carriages I used to service in the middle of the night on Coventry and Rugby station when working for RM in the late 70s.