Here's an unusual spot; we did a visit the other week. Partly because of a model railway show, partly because I needed somewhere to go for a Hornby article, and partly because we were fairly desperate for a day out away from things, and this was a good excuse.
So, this was Mountsorrel, village and heritage centre, pretty near Loughborough (or Loogieberoogie, if you will). It's a relatively-recent setup, on a branch line off the Great Central Railway.
Sadly, the railway wasn't operating. This was a minor annoyance, as we'd had to park at the far station as the car parking at the centre was full. Well, not really full, there'd just been some appallingly poor parking by other patrons.
Still, nice walk along a properly established (if not particularly well-signposted) path.
The other station.
The centre itself- eminently model-able.
The whole place was set into an old quarry, which had its good and bad points. The good (especially from a modelling point of view) was it kept it all contained. The bad; the crap coal being burned by the locomotives filled the whole place with a brown, throat-clagging haze.
Amongst the varios exhibits was this wonderful lift-bridge from the earliest days of the railways.
There was also a working 2ft gauge railway, on ridiculously tight curves.
See what I mean? Ridiculous.
Some nice details which would be fun to model.
Reckon a bit of Kato of Tomix track would do.
Vintage Dublo layout in a goods wagon outside. Speaking of model railways;
There was a small but rather good exhibition in the main hall.
Loved the tents.
Interesting tanker wagon; my Dad used to work at Midland Tar Distillers.
After a few hours and a picnic lunch, it was back to the car. Lots of photographs taken as reference for a build for the Hornby Collectors Club, and a nice morning out. Mindyou, we managed to fit-in another reference trip on the way home.
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