Staffordshire Steam, Ale & Oatcakes

DAY 1

We meet at Stoke station and then board our vintage coach to the Amerton Railway for a private steam photo charter. This mile long, 2 foot gauge line is rarely visited by enthusiasts and we have requested the 1897 built W.G. Bagnall of Stafford 0-4-0 loco Isabel, for whom the line was built, to be steamed for our charter. Returning to the Potteries we have a tour and tasting at the Titanic Brewery one of the Potteries finest before returning to the NSR hotel and our evening meal.

DAY 2

Our morning features a private steam charter at the Apedale Railway, which is an excellent project conserving a substantial collection of British Narrow Gauge industrial locomotives and artefacts, including those owned by the Moseley Trust after which we travel by vintage coach out into the delightful Staffordshire Moorlands for a visit to the Rudyard Lake Railway, which is now home to the track and stock of the former Isle of Mull Railway. Rudyard Kipling was named after this famous local beauty spot and the line runs along the lakeside. we return to our hotel for our evening meal.

DAY 3

We travel by vintage coach back out to the beautiful Staffordshire Moorlands for a day on the standard gauge Churnet Valley Railway, steaming through Staffordshire's 'Little Switzerland' as it was marketed by the original North Staffordshire Railway. There are excellent real ale pubs at each station, such as the Boat Inn at Cheddleton, The Railway at Froghall, and in our biased opinion the most scenically located railway pub in Britain - the Black Lion at Consall Forge - a truly relaxing day in glorious scenery. A lunchtime excursion sees our vintage coach take us to one of the North's most revered pubs - the amazing Yew Tree at Cauldon Lowe.

DAY 4

Our wonderful weekend concludes with a full day of riding and photography at the famous Foxfield Steam Railway annual gala. This former colliery line is 3.5 miles long with fine countryside views (the setting for the BBC's "Cranford" when the railway came to the town in this Victorian drama). The gala with normally 5 or 6 locos in steam featuring passenger trains and the unique sight of a rake of wagons being powered by original industrial steam locomotives up a 1 in 30 gradient, plus lifting demonstrations with a steam crane and lots more. Foxfield is also home to the unique North Staffordshire Railway rake of coaches owned by the Knotty Trust. We will also experience the early evening culmination of the Foxfield event - a fantastic rake of waggons being powered up the infamous Foxfield bank with both train loco and banker with regulators fully open. Our private vintage coach then transfers us back to our hotel for our farewell dinner.

DAY 5

After breakfast we take our homeward journeys from Stoke.

B=Breakfast, D=Dinner