On a nice spring day at the end of April 2005 we went for a very special Sunday lunch.
How do you fancy a three course lunch, served with a smile, while you are seated in a very cosy First Class dining car which is being pulled through the country side by a steam locomotive?
Well we fancied that a lot. So we did just that. We booked our meal in advance and travelled to Bitton Railway Station, near Bristol.
The little station is in fantastic condition and looks friendly and inviting.
Stan checked at the ticket office to see where we needed to go. And we went and had a look round the station.
You can see the details of all the rolling stock and locomotives the Avon Valley Railway has here on their website at http://www.avonvalleyrailway.org/about/rollingstock.html
But here are a few of our impressions:
The Platform is clean, friendly and inviting!
They have even restored this little signal box. We were by now getting really excited, because everything is LMS colours.
Then we saw this porter's sack truck. ... perfect!
There are working engines:
And there are engines and carriages that need restoring still:
And
this Polish Engine is well on the way of pulling trains
There are workshops and cranes and all manner of things you need to make a
railway.
Above left is the engine shed, above right an old boiler and on the right the coal stage. Below, the water tower.
And then we saw "our" train.
Our loco.... Builder Number RSH 7151, was a 0-6-0 Tank locomotive built in 1944.
and the coaches.
Our coach was the first two-coloured one on the picture above.
It was Coach Number 9208 or DB977132, Type BSO, built in 1955 and at Bitton it is called "Grace"
Our table looked inviting from the outside and the food was at least as inviting. It tasted great!
We enjoyed it very much! And the view from the window increased the enjoyment!
After leaving Bitton Station we went to Oldland Common,
then back to Bitton
and then to Avon Riverside.
And on the way ... lots of scenery
This is the River Avon
See more of our reports of places we visited
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