Railway enthusiasts and families turned out in large numbers to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum’s annual steam gala last weekend.
The first gala was held in 2010 and since then the two-day event has been gaining in popularity with visitors coming from all over the country to enjoy a carriage ride hauled by a steam locomotive.
This year there were two visiting engines loaned by the Statfold Narrow Gauge Museum Trust from near Tamworth in Staffordshire. They were a little black Andrew Barclay well tank engine called Cegin and a Peckett saddle tank locomotive called Liassic. The museum’s own engine called Sir Tom was also giving rides.
On Friday there was a special photographic charter replicating scenes of old. This attracted photographers from all over the country keen to get authentic pictures. Their contributions help pay some of the costs of hauling the engines.
And the museum was also open to visitors giving them an insight into the issues covering the mining and quarrying heritage of the Lake District over the past 450 years.
Engineer Dickon Chaplin-Brice estimated that the museum had around 450 visitors over the weekend and they were a mixture of families and enthusiasts. He said that the event was becoming “quite a highlight on the enthusiasts’ calendar”.
The two visiting engines came with their own volunteers and there were also around a dozen volunteers each day from other railways and locally.
“It’s always nice to see familiar faces from other rallies but there were also quite a lot of new faces which was nice to see,” he said. “The weather, which was poor over the two days, did not seem to put people off, which was good.
“But you always heave a sigh of relief when the engines are back on the lorry.”
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