Ropley Miniature Railway

31/05/2026

Well that’s a wrap for this Watercressline DOWT event! The word wrap conjures up ideas of movie making and got me wondering what sorts of movies would our little railway make. Maybe a disaster movie, “The Day the Track Moved!”. Or perhaps a romance with Scarlet being the obvious heart throb. Then again possibly a sci-fi, “Close Encounters of the RMR Kind”. Or even a wartime drama “From Here to Four Acre Field”. I’m sure our reader can suggest a few more titles.

However, I digress, back to more mundane matters. We carried 739 passengers today during 50 trips made and followed the usual pattern of loco changes namely Class 67 Scarlet, Uncle Jim, Patricia and 47834 Jerry Lee. Jerry Lee required some remedial work this morning to rectify a non functioning radiator fan and worn out control valve.

For those sad ones amongst you that are interested in statistics, the obvious highlight of this blog now follows. The rest of you can turn off now! The final numbers are in, and during this event we carried a total of 5765 passengers during 435 trips made. So the average number of passengers per trip was 13.25. This is fascinating isn’t it!! Our line is approximately 500m long so a round trip is 1km. Now even I can do the maths! Our little train travelled a total of 435km or 270 miles during this event, which equates to a single trip from Ropley to Carnforth (for a brief encounter with another film title perhaps?). Which is where I must leave you, dear reader, wandering aimlessly around the streets of Carnforth until picked up by the authorities (sounds painful!). Until next time, bye for now.

PS it would be remiss of me not to add a few thank yous. Firstly, to all that travelled with us, we hope you enjoyed your rides. And particular thanks to those of you that kindly donated. Our continued railway operation is dependant on donations so we are very grateful for these. Secondly, to the Watercressline line for hosting us here and all their support. Thirdly, and most importantly, to all of our volunteers who give up their spare time to operate, maintain and improve this railway. We are run exclusively by volunteers and without them none of this would be possible. Thank you one and all!

30/05/2026

So, we made it through the penultimate day of this Watercressline DOWT event, which was another scorcher. Once again we shared the haulage duties between Class 67 Scarlet, Uncle Jim, Patricia and thunderbird loco 47834 Jerry Lee, with 3 coaches in use throughout. And what a busy day it was, we virtually never stopped and undertook 58 trips during which we carried 905 passengers.

Last day tomorrow, let’s hope for more of the same!

The photo by Alasdair shows Richard in Patricia heading towards the Top Yard with an outbound service.

29/05/2026

A slightly cooler day for Day 7 of this Watercressline DOWT event brought the crowds out. We carried 619 passengers during the 47 trips that were shared between Class 67 Scarlet, Uncle Jim, Patricia and Thunderbird loco, 47834 Jerry Lee.

We had another 17th Birthday to celebrate today, this time it was Aaron. He and his Father Simon brought in some lovely cakes that his Mother Melanie had baked. Suffice to say they were very well received indeed! As a birthday treat Aaron was given some driving experience in 47834 Jerry Lee on completion of the public services.

We are now looking forward to the last weekend of this event, hoping for a cracking finale.

28/05/2026

Another day, yet another hot sweltering day at Ropley! Day 6 of this Watercressline DOWT event brought us another 425 passengers riding our train during the 43 trips made. Once again we stuck to our now tried and trusted routine of 47834 Jerry Lee on Thunderbird duties with Class 67 Scarlet starting our services, followed by Uncle Jim and then Patricia who left the tidying up at the end to Jerry Lee.

3 more days to go of this event and hopefully things will be cooling a little!

27/05/2026

Day 5 of the WatercressLine DOWT event didn't bring much relief from the current heatwave! What it did bring us, though, was 421 enthusiastic passengers who enjoyed the 47 trips made. The batting order had a minor change to established routine. Class 67 Scarlet got proceedings underway as before, but Uncle Jim and Patricia swapped places. 47834 Jerry Lee was kept in the station road as a Thunderbird loco ready to go and retrieve the train should a loco fail. Thankfully its services were not required but Jerry Lee did put in appearance hauling the last few services as all the other locos were returned to shed. We were also grateful that our heat related track distortion issues appear to have been resolved.

Over half way though this event now and the locos and stock seem to be holding up well (hope this is not the "kiss of death"!) but not so sure about our team! It's hard work running a service all day every day in this heat!

All the photos are by Alasdair, unless otherwise indicated in the captions.

26/05/2026

Day 4 of the Watercressline DOWT event was yet another scorcher! As pre-booking numbers were somewhat lower than previous days we decided to run with just two coaches today, which proved to be a wise choice. We made 45 trips and carried 376 passengers. Haulage duties were once again shared between Class 67 Scarlet, Patricia, Uncle Jim and 47834 Jerry Lee.

However, there was another important event today, we celebrated Rudys 17th Birthday with Donuts he and his Father kindly brought in. I was amazed at how quickly they disappeared! Rudy was undertaking guard duties today. After the completion of public services Rudy was given a special treat of driver experience in 47834 Jerry Lee and he helped to put the stock away. The entire Ropley Miniature Railway would like to wish Rudy a very Happy Birthday!

25/05/2026

Video from Henry’s Adventures of the steam gala at Basildon Miniature Railway. Includes some footage of our own steam loco, Ivor.

A visit to the 10 1/4" Gauge Railway in Wat Tyler Country Park in E...

25/05/2026

Early start for Mark, Frank, Richard, Ben and myself today to undertake some trackwork to address the distortion issues we encountered in the extreme heat of yesterday. Opening up the expansion gaps of the affected panels and re-aligning them appears to have resolved the problem. Thanks are due to the above team members for turning up early and working hard to address the issues in time for a prompt start.

Once that had been completed then it was back to the normal business of running the railway! Once again we started this Day 3 of DOWT with Class 67 Scarlet, then Patricia followed by Uncle Jim and finally 47834 Jerry Lee. We carried 654 passengers during the 47 trips made today.

A busy and tiring day in the sweltering heat but it was well worthwhile given all the positive feedback we got.

24/05/2026

A scorcher today for Day 2 of the Watercressline DOWT event. Todays batting order was the Class 67 Scarlet as the opener, then a middle order of Patricia followed by Uncle Jim with 47834 Jerry Lee on Night Watchman duties. This combination undertook 46 trips and carried 789 passengers.

Unfortunately the very hot weather is taking its toll of our track, with some signs of distortion late in the day necessitating speed restrictions. These will hopefully be addressed first thing tomorrow morning when its a bit cooler.

Looking forward to Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow!

23/05/2026

Things don't always go to plan do they? Our plan for this opening day of the Watercressline Day out With Thomas event was to start off with Class 67 Scarlet, followed by Uncle Jim and then Patricia completing proceedings. Unfortunately Scarlet had other ideas! It ground to a halt on the return journey from Four Acre Field and had to be rescued by Patricia. Patricia hauled the train back to Ropley High Level dropping off Scarlet at the top yard en route. Uncle Jim then took over. Mark gave Scarlet a good checking over and changed the Wet Clutch oil and it was later returned to service without further issues. Patricia did complete they days services as per the original plan. Pleased to report that Uncle Jim performed well following its recent Fluid Flywheel repair and Radiator replacement.

837 passengers enjoyed their rides with us today during the 52 trips made. They were treated to seeing the Peak, Ivor, 47834 Jerry Lee, Steeplecab and Hefty at various points along the route. More of the same again tomorrow, but hopefully sticking to the plan this time!