15th Jul 2020
Ropley; Wednesday 15th July; the "New Normal" is becoming the normal normal as a smaller but a no less enthusiastic numbers of both staff and volunteers set about a slightly delayed deep Spring clean around the yard and the sheds.. Mr Sibley ...
10th Jun 2020
Ropley; 10th June. A very strange environment these days though with a lot more life about the place than last week as the railway starts to ready itself for welcoming passengers and volunteers in the not too distant future. Last week there ...
18th Mar 2020
Well, here we are again in the middle of March – a traditional time for writing a blog about the goings-on in Ropley workshop by the world-famous Wednesday Gang. What’s that? “World Famous”? Surely not! Well, ...
20th Nov 2019
This long-overdue blog is about my recent “journey”. No, not my well-trodden path from Wokingham to Ropley and back, but the thing that fans (and sufferers) of Strictly Come Prancing will understand all too well. In my formative ...
21st Aug 2019
I set out yesterday, with camera and enthusiasm fully charged, determined to write a Loco Wednesday Gang Blog. The event that triggered this was a recent birthday - not a “big one” but when you’re past 70, they ...
5th Jun 2019
Another update from the Ropley Loco Wednesday Gang. Since the last one, we’ve eaten a fair bit of cake, spring has turned to summer, and Urie S15 (30)506 has been officially launched into traffic. Now that its officially launched, I ...
10th Apr 2019
It’s been a while since I put finger to keyboard, so here’s a quick update on the Loco Wednesday Gang’s activity since February. Since then, we’ve seen the Ides of March, All Fools ...
13th Feb 2019
My last blog was written in mid-December, and showing the Wednesday Gang boarding the Hammy Unit for our Christmas Dinner. The Brussells Sprouts are a dim memory now, and as we start running trains again this weekend, it’s time for ...
12th Dec 2018
It’s been a hectic few weeks at home and at Ropley, so I haven’t had a lot of time to take pictures and write blogs recently – but at last I have a moment. We’ve ...
31st Oct 2018
I’ve been away for a while, enjoying wildlife in Tanzania, so this is a bit of a catch-up. I started the day with a leisurely stroll around Ropley, taking pictures of all the things that seemed to have changed ...
12th Sep 2018
It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote one of these blogs – I’ve just been too busy sorting out tender brake gear(s) to wander around taking pictures. Dave-2Jags has been a real hero ...
29th Aug 2018
Officially Meteorological Autumn so we need to get on with those outside jobs before the weather changes, and at 7.30 this morning it did feel like autumn with a chill in the air. On arrival at Ropley a lorry was waiting to unload ...
15th Aug 2018
This is likely to be a very short Blog, as although everyone was busy all day, most of the activities were continuations of previous week’s jobs or routine maintenance tasks. The 9F was on the Pit Road for a Boiler ...
1st Aug 2018
There’s an impending 50th anniversary coming up very soon - my 50th wedding anniversary. I lived in Bedfordshire in August 1968 and steam locomotives had quietly slipped away about 3 years before, practically unnoticed, so my attentions had moved on by ...
18th Jul 2018
Another very warm Wednesday might account for the reduced numbers again this week, but just maybe it was the thought of trying to dig more post holes. But more of that later. As I was arriving, Dave and George were on their ...
4th Jul 2018
Dave-2Jags started the tender puns last week with “Love me Tender” so it was off to Google to search for another song with “Tender” in the title – plenty of quantity, but not much in quality there!&...