Battlefield line

We wre travelling yes, but I don't recall a platform ticket being asked for - does seem a bit of an own goal, your right

 

If you haven’t got a train ticket to travel then you can’t access the cafe without a platform ticket … each.

I guess the rly don’t care about the loss of walk up diners as it’s not their cafe, it’s leased out.

 

I love Shackerstone and the Battlefield, mostly because it is the total opposite of todays large (literally multi million pound) tourist attractions.

It's cheap, friendly, Shackerstone does have a somewhat ramshackle but impressive museum, the cafe does cracking cake, the line rolls through rural Leicestershire at it's finest. You can get off at Mkt Bosworth and walk up to the town if you want some exercise, At Shenton theres a notable tourist attraction with a plethora of great walks and once back in Shackerstone the Rising sun does a cracking pint (though sadly no longer the excellent Sunday Roasts it used to).

I fully love it for the fact it isn't perfectly rolled out, doesnt have matching British Rail / Gill Sans signs everywhere, and isnt really the land of multi millionaires with their high value toys.


having said that, I do wish they'd manage to keep a couple of permanent steam locos and had a slightly highly profile. it's somehow bumbled along for 50 years and I hope it continues much longer.

 

Come down to Swanage and point out the multi millionaires with their high value toys.

 

point out the distinct advantage of being located in a notable tourism area?

 

I think as far as heritage train rides go, in my experience its tedious flat trundle is right up there with Peak Rail and the Midland Railway. Scenically it is bland compared to Peak Rail, but better than the Midland, which is largely in a cutting.
It does excel at displaying scrap rolling stock though, whereas the Midland has West Shed, and the narrow gauge line too, even Peak Rail has Rowsley Yard with its turntable and Darley Dale is a nice original station.
A common denominator is that they are all on my wife’s banned list!

 

If there's access to the scrap rolling stock, I'm there! Can't stand the modern desire to hide everything that isn't pristine

 

be warned, the most famous resident has finally just left :

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQo2tVdjJVw/

 

Get over there then, if rusting diesel carcasses is your thing and you don’t mind paying for the privilege. Recommend you leave the missus at home though.

 

Not all heritage lines have to be polished destinations, allow some of them just be happy places where like minded people can enjoy their hobby.

 

That was not the statement, but being next to a prominent civil war site does help.
I'm talking Bosworth Field not Corfe Castle

 

Certainly Battlefield has been around a long while without making much, if any, significant progress. It's a shame but "somehow bumbled along for 50 years" seems to sum it up fairly well. I suspect it's mostly down to a shortage of volunteers rather than any lack of ambition on their part.

 

Hmmm. When I retired early on 2010 one of my first actions was to re-activate my hands-on volunteering with steam locos.
The Battlefield was the nearest outfit by some margin. So I rocked up and asked to be directed to the MPD. “Well old (name forgotten) might be down there, go and have a look”. So I did. I found him eventually in the gloom of a small shed, doing not much. I asked if there was much work on locos and could I get involved. Looking at the sole resident industrial covered in dust and bird muck, he said “he hoped it might steam again one day, and there might be someone there on Sunday, but he wouldn’t bank on it. Anyway, the service loco was hired in and came with its own support crew”.
I left pronto.

 

From their FB ……

“Due to over-running engineering works - caused by the prolonged wet weather in Jan & Feb, we regret that our train services will only be operating between Shackerstone and Market Bosworth Stations.
No services will operate to/from Shenton Station until further notice. We will post an update when the line is once again fully operational.
The forthcoming Mother's Day service will go ahead as planned, but only running between Shackerstone and Market Bosworth. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

 

The section of trackbed south of Market Bosworth on the climb up to Bridge 29 was, at the start of March, a quagmire, so the weather has definitely not been kind!

 

Photos from Battlefield Line Facebook page.





Does look rather moist! The puddle in the hole left by the freshly removed sleeper isn't great.

 

Drainage under that bridge and the next one along has been poor ever since I joined the railway in 2021. It was not uncommon in all but the longest and driest of periods to see a pond where the other track used to be with ducks having a paddle! We could have done with a much drier winter for this work, but once the trackbed dries up enough to enable the track relaying to be completed, there are plans to do some drainage work so hopefully those days should be numbered!

 

Will you not sort the drainage out first?

 

The drainage issue in terms of where the pond forms is mainly where the 2nd track ran in BR days (when the line was double track). Obviously we'll make sure the ground is secure and drains well before the track goes in, but we can do that to enable trains to run back to Shenton and then tackle the draining of the old 2nd track route afterwards. That way trains can run to Shenton sooner (and steam becomes practical again as there's no loop at Bosworth) to fund said repairs

 

There’s a climb? (He says from the giddy heights of Stoke Golding).