JD's Model Railway

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Steam day at Didcot

Side view of the blue Hunslet tank engine King George with red lining and red coupling rods, beside a coal stage

Half-term Saturday, Halloween and a steam day at Didcot Railway Centre, so off we went. You get in through the subway at Didcot Parkway station and come out in a proper 1930s Great Western engine yard. It was one of those crisp, bright autumn days, perfect for photos, and I took a lot of them.

I've grouped them below roughly in the order we walked round, with a bit about what everything is. If I've got anything wrong, do let me know!

The yard and the coal stage

The first thing you see is the coal stage, a big brick building with a water tank on the roof. It's worth a proper look.

A single track climbing an embankment towards a brick coal stage with a yellow wagon under its arch, with wagons parked on the right
The line up to the coal stage. Loaded coal wagons are pushed up this slope and in through the arch at the top.
Footpath beside the yard, with the coal stage on its embankment and a line of black GW wagons to the right
The coal stage from the footpath, with a rake of Great Western wagons parked alongside.
The brick coal stage at Didcot under a blue sky, with its riveted iron water tank on top and a canopy on the side
The coal stage itself. The Great Western built it in 1931 and it's now Grade II listed. The tank on top holds over 74,000 gallons of water, which is piped down to the water cranes in front of the engine shed.
Cast sign reading Caution, engines must not pass this arch, beside the brick arch at the top of the coal stage ramp
"Caution. Engines must not pass this arch." Only the coal wagons go up here. The coal is unloaded inside.
Side of the coal stage with a wooden canopy and tipping chutes above the track, and coal tubs on the ground
The business side. Coal is loaded into half-ton tubs inside, wheeled out under that little canopy and tipped straight into an engine's bunker or tender. Some of the original tubs are still used.
Bullhead rail points and sidings in the yard, with flat wagons and open wagons parked in the distance
Pointwork in the yard, with a line of wagons waiting in the sidings.

King George

The engine in steam when we got there was King George, in a deep blue with red lining that really glowed in the sun.

Side view of the blue Hunslet tank engine King George with red lining and red coupling rods, beside a coal stage
King George, an 0-6-0 tank engine built by Hunslet of Leeds in 1942. It spent its working life at Nottinghamshire collieries (Linby, Bestwood and Gedling), came close to being scrapped in 1980, and has been back in steam at Didcot since 2022.
Close-up of the brass King George nameplate on the blue side tank
The nameplate, with the yard reflected in the paintwork.
Oval works plate reading The Hunslet Engine Co Ltd Leeds No 2409 1942 on the blue cab side, next to the buffer
The Hunslet works plate on the cab: No. 2409, built 1942.
Smokebox, chimney and front running plate of King George, with a brick wall behind
The front end. King George was a saddle tank at one time, and the parts to turn it back into one have been kept, so it may not always look like this.
Looking along a brick-lined inspection pit towards the front of King George, with wagons on the right
King George at the end of the inspection pit, where the crew can get underneath to oil round and check things over.

The engine shed and the turntable

The engine shed is the heart of the place. Most of the doors were open, so you could see right in.

Corrugated engine shed with tank engine 6106 inside, the small green saddle tank 1340 out front and a cream and brown railcar on the right
The engine shed, with Great Western engines old and new. In the left road is 6106, a big Prairie tank from 1931. In the middle, little 1340 Trojan is out front, and one of the streamlined diesel railcars is on the right.
Green GWR Prairie tank 6106 inside the engine shed, with a brown and cream auto coach numbered 190 behind it
6106 in the shed, with auto trailer 190 behind. It's one of the Great Western's big Prairie tanks, built in 1931 for London suburban trains, and it's absolutely gleaming.
Front three-quarter view of 6106 with its polished copper-capped chimney, shiny smokebox door and red buffer beam
6106 from the front. You could see your reflection in that smokebox door.
Side view of black pannier tank 3738 lettered GWR in the sun, with a water crane and wagons behind
3738 out in the sunshine by the water crane. GWR in big shaded letters on the tanks.
Front three-quarter view of black pannier tank 3738 with a red buffer beam, beside the engine shed and grey vans
3738 from the front, outside the shed.
Green saddle tank 1340 Trojan in the yard, with 6106 and 3738 inside the open engine shed behind
Trojan again, with 6106 and 3738 peeping out of the shed behind.
Green 0-4-0 saddle tank 1340 Trojan with GREAT WESTERN on the tank and a red buffer beam
1340 Trojan. It was built by Avonside of Bristol in 1897 for the docks at Newport and joined the Great Western in 1923, when the Alexandra Docks Railway was taken over. It later spent years at collieries. Today it's the oldest working ex-GWR engine.
Black pannier tank 3738 with G W R on the tanks, standing outside the engine shed
3738, one of the classic Great Western pannier tanks, built at Swindon in 1937. Over 860 of these 57xx engines were built, and they did a bit of everything.
Black pannier tank 3738 lettered GWR beside a water crane, with a grey brake van behind
3738 again, by the water crane, with a Toad brake van in the background.
Wide view of a large railway turntable set in the grass with a lamp post on the left and wagons and sheds behind
The turntable, a 70-footer, big enough for the largest tender engines. It was built by Ransomes & Rapier of Ipswich for the Southern Railway at Southampton Docks and now sits in the Great Western's original 1932 pit. It's still turned by hand.
Turntable with a cast maker's plate on its railings, a grey brake van lettered St Blazey behind and people walking past
The maker's plate on the turntable reads "Working load 175 tons, Southern Rly Co, Ransomes & Rapier Ltd, Ipswich". Behind it is a Toad brake van lettered for St Blazey in Cornwall.
Turntable in the grass with sidings of wagons behind and a white building on the right
One more of the turntable, with the sidings beyond.
Rusty locomotive boiler with its dome, a vertical boiler and a cab beside a large modern workshop building
Round the back of the works were boilers and parts waiting their turn for overhaul. Steam engines take years to rebuild, and a lot of it happens right here.

Inside the engine shed

Round the back, the shed is packed with engines on display, and you can get right up close.

Green GWR Hall class engine with a Burton Agnes Hall nameplate over the driving wheels, inside the long engine shed
6998 Burton Agnes Hall, a Modified Hall built at Swindon in January 1949. In January 1966 it was picked to work the Western Region's last steam-hauled passenger train, and the Great Western Society bought it straight afterwards.
Back of a green tender with the British Railways lion emblem and a W.R. Swindon plate, with a yellow diesel cab on the left
Burton Agnes Hall's tender, in British Railways green with the lion emblem and a Swindon tender plate. D1023's yellow end is on the left.
Smokebox and front end of 6998 with an information board, and the blue Western Fusilier diesel to the right
Burton Agnes Hall from the front, with the information board on the buffer beam and D1023 Western Fusilier alongside.
View between the red buffer beams of two engines to a blue diesel with a Western Fusilier nameplate
Looking between the buffers to D1023 Western Fusilier, a Class 52 "Western" diesel-hydraulic built at Swindon in 1963. It belongs to the National Railway Museum and is at Didcot on a five-year loan.
Blue and yellow Class 52 diesel D1023 with an 84A shed plate below the cab
D1023 up close, in BR blue with a yellow end. The 84A shed plate stands for Laira, in Plymouth.
British Railways emblem of a yellow lion standing over a red spoked wheel, on green paintwork with orange and black lining
The early British Railways emblem, the "cycling lion" on a wheel, used from 1949 to 1956.
Black GWR 2-8-0 freight engine 3822 with an information board and CDF painted on the front framing
3822, a 28xx heavy freight engine built at Swindon in 1940 to a Churchward design. These big 2-8-0s hauled coal trains out of South Wales, and CDF on the buffer beam is the shed code for Cardiff Canton.
Side view along the black freight engine 3822 showing its long boiler, driving wheels and motion
3822 from the side, with all eight driving wheels and the valve gear.
Cast brass number plate 3822 on the black cab side, with a blue E route disc and a cross above it
3822's cast number plate, with the blue E disc above it. That was the Great Western's code for the engine's power and route restrictions.
Glossy black boiler and firebox of 3822 seen from the side, reflecting the shed
3822's boiler, polished so much you can see the shed roof in it.
Low view of a steam locomotive cab with the firehole door, gauges, copper pipes and a wooden seat
Inside the cab of one of the big engines: the firehole, the regulator, the gauges and all that copper pipework. Then imagine it at speed with the fire roaring.
Inside a GWR cab with a red reversing handle, brass lubricator, a speedometer and a brass ATC bell by the window
The driver's side of a Great Western cab: the red reversing wheel, the sight-feed lubricator, and the brass bell of the ATC, the GWR's Automatic Train Control that rang a bell or sounded a horn as the engine passed a signal.
The empty, riveted coal space of a locomotive tender, sloping down towards the cab
Looking into an empty tender. That's where the coal goes, and the fireman shovelled it all by hand.
Close-up of the riveted green side tank of 4144 with its cast number plate
4144, one of the Great Western's large Prairie tanks of the 5101 class, built at Swindon in 1946. Look at the rivets!
Small maroon tank engine lettered W.T.Co No 5, covered in fake cobwebs and pumpkins inside the engine shed
Shannon, Wantage Tramway No. 5, dressed for Halloween. It was built by George England in 1857 for the Sandy & Potton Railway, then worked the little Wantage Tramway from 1878 to 1945. It's part of the National Collection.
The riveted black firebox backhead of a small engine, with brass fittings, a firehole door and a chain
Shannon's backhead, all rivets and brass, and very simple compared with the later engines.
Green tender with GREAT WESTERN in shaded letters and the GWR coat of arms between the words, beside other engines in the shed
A tender lettered GREAT WESTERN with the company's coat of arms in the middle. That style was used in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Copper pipework and red levers inside a green lined-out cab, seen through green railings
A look into another cab, through the safety railings.
Close-up of a cab backhead with brass pressure gauges, a gauge glass, copper pipes and a red regulator handle
The boiler pressure gauge, water gauge glass and regulator handle.
GWR vacuum brake gauge reading Train Pipe and Reservoir above a brass ejector valve and a sight-feed lubricator
The other side of the same cab: the brake gauge marked "Train pipe" and "Reservoir" and the oil feeds for the cylinders.
Green GWR tank engine 5572 in the shed, with a green saddle tank lettered Great Western further along and a visitor in a bowler hat
5572, a small Prairie tank built at Swindon in 1929, with a Great Western saddle tank beyond it.
Rear of green tank engine 6697 with its number on the bunker and buffer beam, beside a Hall class engine
6697, one of the 56xx 0-6-2 tanks built for the South Wales valleys. This one was built by Armstrong Whitworth in 1928. Hinderton Hall is on the right.
Curved brass Hinderton Hall nameplate over the green splasher and spoked driving wheel
Hinderton Hall's nameplate. 5900 was built at Swindon in 1931 and rescued from Barry scrapyard, the yard in South Wales where hundreds of steam engines waited to be cut up.
Brass 5900 number plate on a lined green cab side with a red D route disc above
5900's cab side, with the red D disc. Red D meant it was heavy and strong enough to be kept off the lighter routes.
Smokebox door and red buffer beam of 5900, looking along the engine in the shed
Hinderton Hall from the front, with 6697 alongside.
Green and black 2-6-0 5322 with a copper-capped chimney, an information board and a red buffer beam
5322, a Churchward Mogul (2-6-0) built in 1917. It went straight to France in the First World War with the Railway Operating Division, hauling supplies for the army, before it ever worked for the Great Western.
Lined green cab with a 5322 number plate and a tender lettered Great Western with the crest
5322's cab and tender, with GREAT WESTERN and the company crest.
5322 seen straight on over an inspection pit, with copper chimney top and number on the red buffer beam
5322 head-on over the pit. My favourite photo of the day, I think.
Wide view inside the engine shed with a Prairie tank on the left, 5322 at the end of a pit and a brown and cream coach on the right
The whole shed in one go: 6106 on the left, 5322 down the middle, and a chocolate and cream coach on the right.

A visitor from the Great Eastern

The surprise of the day for me was a tiny blue engine at the other end of the site, running up and down the branch line.

Front of the small blue Great Eastern tank engine No. 229 in steam, with a red buffer beam, beside a wooden platform
Great Eastern Railway No. 229, built by Neilson in 1876. It's one of a little class of dock tanks nicknamed "Coffee Pots". It spent years in a museum in East London and only came back to steam in 2025.
Side view of the blue Great Eastern saddle tank No. 229 with steam drifting through the trees
229 from the side, in Great Eastern blue with G E R on the tank, simmering away with its carriage behind.
229 coming past on the branch line with auto coach No. 92.

Diesels

It's not all steam at Didcot.

Green Hunslet diesel shunter DL26 with yellow and black chevrons on the front, coupled to wagons beside the engine shed
DL26, the yard shunter, in green with black and yellow wasp stripes. It was built by Hunslet in 1957, the same Leeds works as King George, and it's light enough to go over the carriage shed traverser, which is why it's so useful.
Side view of green diesel shunter DL26 with a red buffer beam and HUNSLET on the bonnet
DL26 from the side, with the Hunslet name above the radiator and the British Railways lion on the cab.
Green Hunslet diesel shunter DL26 with red coupling rods and the British Railways lion on the cab side
DL26 in the sunshine, with its red coupling rods and works plate.
Weathered BR blue Class 31 diesel 31270 with an Athena nameplate and a yellow end, beside a brick engine shed
31270 "Athena", a Brush Type 2 in BR blue. It was built in 1961 as D5800, started work at March depot, was withdrawn from the main line in 2000 and arrived at Didcot in 2023.
Class 31 diesel seen head-on on curved track, with the coal stage and water tank behind it
The Class 31 again, nose-on, framed by the coal stage.
Head-on view of a chocolate and cream GWR diesel railcar with a GWR roundel and big round buffers, over a pit in the shed
Diesel railcar No. 22, built at Swindon in 1940. The Great Western's early railcars were so rounded they got the nickname "Flying Bananas". No. 22 is one of the later, more angular ones.
Chocolate and cream GWR railcar No 22 at an angle inside a dark shed, with planks on trestles beside it
No. 22 from the side, with the sun coming into the shed.

Wagons

There are wagons everywhere at Didcot, and a lot of them are perfect for anyone modelling the Great Western.

Black GW wagon 63066 lettered G LOCO W at the end of a rake of wagons, with King George in the distance
The wagons by the coal stage. The black one, 63066, is lettered G LOCO W. That marked a wagon the Great Western kept for carrying coal for its own engines.
Green six-wheel milk tank wagon lettered MILK and C.W.S. SERVICE, with SR 4409 on the black frame
Milk tank S 4409. It was built by the Southern Railway in 1931 as a four-wheeler and rebuilt with six wheels in 1937. It now wears the green of the Co-op's milk service.
Grey flat wagons on a siding beside a concrete path, with the coal stage and a blue tank engine behind
A couple of engineers' wagons on the siding, with the coal stage and King George beyond.
A rake of grey GW wagons and a brake van, with a cream tank wagon lettered Pratt's Perfection Spirit, Anglo American Oil Co Ltd
More Great Western wagons, and on the right a tank wagon in Pratt's Perfection Spirit colours. It was built by Hurst Nelson in 1912. Pratt's was the Anglo-American Oil Company's petrol brand, and the company later became Esso.
Grey GW Toad brake van 68684 lettered Pontypool Road and 20 tons, with autumn trees behind
A Great Western "Toad" brake van, No. 68684, built at Swindon in 1924. "Toad" was the GWR's telegraph code for a goods brake van. Each one was painted with its home depot, here Pontypool Road. Most goods trains had no continuous brakes, so the guard rode in here and used the handbrake.
A line of wagons on a siding beside a field and a concrete path, led by a red and yellow open wagon
The sidings across the field, with a bright red and yellow wagon at the front.
Gravel and a paved path beside a siding of wagons, including a red and yellow open wagon and a bare red wagon frame
Another angle on the same wagons. The red frame is a wagon stripped back for restoration.
Wooden-beamed buffer stops at the end of a siding, with points in the foreground and a wagon beyond
Buffer stops at the end of a siding, with a Great Western wagon behind.
A dark wooden goods van on a siding above a grassy inspection pit, with autumn trees behind
An old wooden goods van in the sidings near the transfer shed.
Close view of a dark wooden goods van with diagonal bracing, under autumn trees
The same van up close, with its outside bracing.
Brown wooden coach numbered 47 with Loco, Carriage and Wagon Dept Penzance on the solebar, under a canopy with a bench in front
Coach No. 47, lettered for the "Loco, Carriage & Wagon Dept, Penzance". When old carriages were retired, plenty carried on as departmental vehicles like this.

Brunel's broad gauge

The branch line takes you down to the old transfer shed, where the broad gauge lives. The rails are 7 feet apart, compared with the 4 ft 8½ in that everyone else used, and the Great Western ran on it until 1892. The shed dates from the 1850s, when goods had to be swapped between broad and standard gauge trains. It had been decorated for Halloween, which made for some different photos.

Long timber shed with a stone platform, a broad gauge locomotive on the left and daylight at the far end
Inside the transfer shed, which doubles as Burlescombe station at the end of the branch line.
Front of the broad gauge replica Fire Fly, with a tall black chimney, grey smokebox and red buffer beam, inside a timber shed
Fire Fly, a working replica of one of Daniel Gooch's express engines of 1840. It was finished here at Didcot in 2005.
Fire Fly's chimney and smokebox draped in fake cobwebs, with small carved pumpkins on the front
Fire Fly dressed for Halloween, with cobwebs on the chimney and pumpkins on the footplate.
Fire Fly seen along its boiler from the platform, covered in fake cobwebs and pumpkins
The cobwebs went all the way along the boiler.
The tall dome-topped firebox and wooden-lagged boiler of Fire Fly, seen from beside the footplate
Fire Fly's tall domed firebox, often called a "haycock" because of its shape, with the polished wooden lagging and the controls on the footplate.
Black riveted tender tank with a Great Western Railway oval plate on wooden panelled frames
One of the broad gauge tenders, with its Great Western Railway plate and rows of rivets.
Brown broad gauge carriage with open sides and low doors, beside a GWR platform bench in the transfer shed
A broad gauge third class carriage, with open sides and wooden seats. It's a reproduction, first built in 1985 for the GWR's 150th birthday. In the early 1840s, third class passengers really did travel like this.
Broad gauge replica Iron Duke with its huge driving wheel splasher, a skeleton on the footplate, cobwebs and a carved pumpkin
Iron Duke, dressed up for Halloween with a skeleton on the footplate and a pumpkin on the frames. It's a replica of an 1847 express engine, built in 1985 using parts from two Hunslet Austerity tanks. The single driving wheel is 8 feet across.
Tall black chimney and riveted smokebox of Iron Duke draped in fake cobwebs in front of the timber shed wall
Iron Duke's chimney, covered in fake cobwebs, with the wooden boiler lagging held on by brass bands.
A long black iron pipe with a slot along the top, laid between broad gauge rails on timber baulks, covered in autumn leaves
This is a bit of Brunel's atmospheric railway. In the 1840s, on the South Devon line, trains were pulled along by a piston in this pipe, with pumping houses sucking the air out ahead of it. The leather flap that sealed the slot didn't last, and the system was dropped within a year.
A rust-coloured cast iron lion's head bracket on a wooden post, with trees behind
A cast iron lion's head on a post near the broad gauge area. I loved the detail on it.

The carriage shed

The carriage shed is set out like a station with wooden platforms, so you can walk right alongside the coaches. The Great Western's chocolate and cream looks amazing all lined up.

Wooden platform between a brown and cream Victorian carriage lettered Third and a cream Special Saloon, with a Platform No 2 sign above
Platform No. 2. On the left is Dean third No. 1941, built in 1901. On the right is Special Saloon 9002, built in 1940, which carried Winston Churchill, General Eisenhower and the Royal Family during the war.
Long side of a Victorian GWR carriage in brown and cream with gold lining and Third on the doors
The Victorian thirds, with their lined-out panels and "Third" on every door.
End and side of a Victorian GWR carriage in chocolate and cream with a Third door plate, with wooden steps beside it
One of the Victorian carriages from the end, in chocolate and cream with gold lining.
Wooden platform between a cream saloon and the Victorian family saloon 2511, with a visitor in the foreground
On the right is 2511, a family saloon from 1894. Well-off families could hire it and have it attached to any train. In 1937 the body was sold and lived on as a house at Purley-on-Thames, which is why so much of the original inside survives. It came to Didcot in 1972.
Long view down Platform No 1 inside the carriage shed, with a Royal Mail van on the left and brown coaches on the right
Platform No. 1, with the Royal Mail van on the left.
Cream and brown van with ROYAL MAIL in big shaded letters and mail exchange apparatus at the far end, beside a wooden platform
Travelling Post Office van 814, built at Swindon in 1940. Mail was carried and sorted on the move, and the black gear at the far end is the apparatus for picking up and dropping mail bags at speed.
A chocolate and cream GWR corridor coach with Third on the door, seen at an angle in the carriage shed
A later Great Western corridor coach, gleaming in chocolate and cream.
End of a chocolate and cream GWR coach with its gangway connection and Third on the door
The same coach from the end, where you can see the corridor connection.
Side of a brown and cream GWR coach with brass door handles, beside a wooden walkway in the shed
A Collett coach in the shed. The polish on these is something else.
Close view along the side of a polished chocolate and cream coach in the carriage shed
Another, with the light catching the paint.
A coach in the carriage shed with brown lower panels and pale green primer on the upper panels
This one is partway through a repaint, so you can see the undercoat.
Black end of a coach with a gangway bellows and pipes, beside a Didcot Railway Centre information sign
The end of a coach with its gangway and steam heating pipes.
View down a gap between two lines of coaches in the carriage shed, with an information board
Looking down between the coaches in the carriage shed.

Inside the carriages

Some of my favourite photos from the day are of the little things inside the carriages.

A carriage compartment with patterned bench seats, a luggage rack, framed photographs and a door with windows
A compartment in one of the old carriages: patterned seats, the luggage net above, and old photos of seaside towns on the wall.
Saloon interior with upholstered armchairs, a small table and curtained windows, seen through the glass
Looking into one of the saloons, with armchairs instead of seats. Not quite what we get on the train today!
A long dining table with a white cloth and green leather chairs inside a saloon carriage with curtains
And the dining table in another saloon.
White carriage ceiling with brass light fittings and ornate brass brackets holding wooden rails hung with leather straps
Inside one of the old carriages: brass brackets, wooden rails and leather straps to hang on to. I'm fairly sure this was the steam railmotor, built in 1908 to win passengers back from the trams.
A patterned fabric window blind rolled up above a carriage window, with a brass end cap and autumn trees outside
A rolled-up window blind, with the autumn trees outside.
Cast brass sign reading To stop the train in case of emergency pull down the chain, penalty for improper use £5
"To stop the train in case of emergency pull down the chain. Penalty for improper use £5." That was a lot of money back then.

Restoration

You can see how much work goes into keeping all this going.

Empty carriage body with a curved white roof, salmon-pink walls, no seats and an old ladder on the floor
Inside a coach that has been stripped right back. The roof and walls are done and the floor is next.
End of a carriage body under restoration, with its frame exposed and an empty interior
The same coach from outside, up on its frame with the panels off.
Rows of old wooden carriage doors and panels leaning against a workshop wall
Old carriage doors and panels lined up, waiting to be repaired or copied.

The ghost train

Being Halloween, there was a ghost train. Not a moving one: auto trailer W231 was parked up in the shed with a "GHOST" sticker in the window, and of course we went in.

Crimson and cream auto trailer W231 seen end-on in a timber shed, with GHOST written on the window
Auto trailer W231, the last Great Western auto coach design, built at Swindon in 1951. It has a driver's cab at this end, so the engine can push from the back without having to run round. For today it was the ghost train, sticker and all.
Interior of a coach with red bench seats along both sides, cream walls and a dark curtained doorway at the far end
Inside the ghost train: red seats down both sides and a dark curtain at the end.
A large plastic skeleton climbing out of the ground beside a corrugated building
This chap was waiting for us by the platform.

Signals and the branch line

The signals are a big part of Didcot, and some of them are working. There's even a whole signalling area.

Tall lattice-post semaphore signal with a red and white arm against a blue sky, above a sign To the Signalling Centre
A semaphore signal at danger, beside the sign to the signalling centre.
Tall white bracket signal with two semaphore arms against a blue sky, above the tracks
A bracket signal, with arms for more than one route.
Brick and timber signal box with a Frome Mineral Junction nameboard, with white signal posts beside it
Frome Mineral Junction signal box, with a row of tall signals beside it.
A semaphore signal beside black railings and a path, with a signal box among the trees
Another signal by the railings, with a signal box behind.
A path beside railings and a track, with a signal box and the water tower among trees
The path down towards the branch line.
A single track running along a fence with signals in the distance and the sun through the trees
The branch line itself. It runs from Didcot Halt down to Burlescombe, the platform in the transfer shed.
Paved path beside a fenced wooden platform, with semaphore signals behind it and a tall tree
By the platform, with the signals peeping over the fence.
A small brick hut with a chimney beside a path, among autumn trees
One of the little brick huts around the site, complete with its chimney.
A small dark green wooden inspection vehicle named Gladis with white-walled wheels and a yellow coupling rod, on pointwork
"Gladis", a little wooden inspection car, sitting on the points.

A ride on the branch line

We had a ride too, in a 1930s coach hauled by the yard's Class 08 shunter.

Blue BR Class 08 shunter named Phantom coupled to chocolate and cream coach 1289, with a uniformed guard on the platform
08604 "Phantom", in BR blue, coupled to coach 1289, with the guard waiting on the platform. 1289 is a Collett "Excursion" third from 1937.
Wood-panelled compartment with an art deco mirror, a cube lampshade, a luggage rack and patterned seats
Inside 1289, all 1930s art deco: wood panelling, stepped mirror frames and lampshades to match.
A white cube glass lampshade with brown bars and green lines, beside wood panelling with matching inlay
The lampshades, with the same three-bar pattern as the inlay on the panels.
A small metal heater switch on wood panelling labelled Off, Half, Full and Heat, beside a mirror
The heating control: Off, Half or Full.
A chrome electric fan with a wire guard and a white control box, fixed above a wooden doorway
And a little electric fan over the doorway for the summer.
Phantom bringing our train into the platform, with its black and yellow "wasp stripes" leading.

Odds and ends

Two old Thornycroft lorries in GWR brown and cream with G.W.R. headboards, in a corrugated shed with a Private Road sign
The Great Western ran lorries too. Here are two Thornycrofts, UW 9825 and UU 5008, in the road vehicle shed.
Front of the Thornycroft lorry UU 5008 with an information board in the windscreen, a sack truck and a Great Western Railway Private Road sign
UU 5008 up close. The board says it was built in 1929 and spent its working life at Haverfordwest on the GWR's country lorry service, collecting and delivering for local farms and businesses.
A large spoked locomotive driving wheelset resting on sleepers under a tree beside a paved path
A spare pair of big driving wheels under a tree, with the crank pin and balance weight on show. You don't realise how big they are until you stand next to them.

A brilliant day out, and I came home with loads of ideas for the layout. We'll definitely be back.