National Railway Museum in York has an amazing variety of trains - old and new - from around the world and they hold regular special events usually during the school holidays . Admission is FREE !! You could spend a full day to see it all. Weekends are busy !
And their second site at Shildon is also amazing and growing. It can make for a great two day or more trip when teamed with Beamish museum of the north and then Durham and alnwick.
Trains and long distance railway travel still retains some bit of magic. My two oldest grandsons in Queensland travel to/from their boarding school near Melbourne, and love the 6-times a year 26 hr journey, being allowed to travel alone now they're 13. Still, I feel they and their brothers and cousins will never get the thrill of regular steam locomotive travel as I did as a kid. Your kids get a hint of it, and maybe they'll get to enjoy a special steam journey soon.
Grew up nearby and we used to go often. They did a special one at Christmas where the trees and stuff on the route are lit up with lights - may still do it. Good garden centre too. But my how the kids have grown over the summer. Always fun to see your family out and about.
Great video and enjoyed watching it. But the man you asked about the train was so rude. You stayed so polite bless you. You wanted to learn for you and your kids and he was just seemed annoyed. But looks like you had a great day anyway ❤
Where I live in Norfolk, there are the big steam trains which run on tracks in Sheringham. Then in Carlton Coville they have old trams and trolley buses. My kids use to love these places.
In Llangollen , in Wales , they have a real old steam engine ( like a miss Marple one) with compartments , takes you on a 30 minute - ish ride, then back again. They also have a barge pulled by Shire Horses., it's a real cool place to visit. Lovely to see you all , blessings and love ♥♥♥
If you enjoyed this, you would also like Ribble Steam Railway & Museum. Its near Preston. It has a 3 mile heritage train line for the steam engines that people can take rides on
it looks like you all had a great time Mac. There are many heritage railways around the country with full size engines, one of which is about 20 miles north of us, the Watercress Line.
Mac great video, love to see the kids too. there are a lot of steam trains in North Wales and yoy can even go up/ down Mount Snowdon by steam train But book in advance
A lot of these old narrow gauge trains worked in the mining areas and docks. Ffestiniog railway has double ended steam trains. Snowdon mountain railway goes up the mountain. Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, another narrow gauge railway, had an armoured train in WWII. I remember riding to London on a steam passenger train. The wonderful smell of smoke entering the window is something was a delight as a child. The American locomotives are very distinguishable from a European loco in that the chimney is much wider to stop wood embers being blown out and setting the plain on fire.
Fairly close to your home there is the Severn Valley Railway, runs from Kidderminster to Bridgenorth mostly alongside River Severn and passing West Midlands Safari Park. Several stations along the route. Can get there by train to Kidderminster.
You need to see some of the hundreds of steam railways in the UK, Nene Valley, North Yorkshire Moors Railway, Severn Valley, East Lancashire, Bluebell, Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. Loads to find.
Ha Ha, looks like Blair was taking out 5 kids today, including one big one! Mac, make no mistake the US has a fantastic railroad history. There are many preserved railroads all over North America, with some beautiful locomotives. Check out the Norfolk and Western J class No 611, and the Union Pacific 'Big Boy', to name just 2. Thanks for another great day out!
The kids mentioned Thomas. If you get a chance head to Llangollen in North Wales. They have Thomas there on their railway. Thought: get a couple of extra radio mics for the rest of the family?
I think you might really enjoy Bekonscot Model Village in Buckinghamshire, it has some small ride on trains, as well as an amazing model village. I really love your channel. I only discovered it today, so I haven’t watched all your videos, if you haven’t already joined the National Trust, I think you would really enjoy it as I heard you say you like visiting castles.
You really should visit the National Railway Museum in York. It’s free and there’s tons to see and do. It’s right next to York station so easy to arrive by train.
There are still some narrow gauge steam railways that run scheduled services, my late wife and I took a trip on the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railway from Caernarfon right into Snowdonia in 2016, it's a good couple of hours on the train, but you can get off, visit villages and get back on the next train, and they do run a regular timetable, you can also get hot food and drinks on the train and it's not expensive, so great for a large family :-) Do you make your kids sleep in manure, or how are they growing so fast? 😀 Thanks for the content.
John Bloom founded the museum after he lost his wife & his children took over the business of his Nursery in which its based, they grow plants & seeds for Garden centers, some of the train journeys are through the growing fields & in summer when it's in full bloom it's amazing there are sheds that contain steam road traction engines the great grandaddy of modern Trucks & also another shed houses vintage fire engines belonging to Enthusiasts. Blooms now have Garden Centers at many others Venues across England at historic houses & usualy have an attached cafe providing food they have one at Dorney Court, a Tudor Manor house Eaton side of Winsor that was given to Lady Palmer one of Charles II.nd's mistresses, It was also where the first Pinapple was grown under glass in the UK, & also used as a University for the Fillming of the TOM SHARP Book PORTERHOUSE BLUE. DORNEY Village still has a common that is grazed by cattle & the village is comprised of Tudor Cottages.
When you take out the kids and you are more enthused than them, but years down the line when they drop their kids on you they have remembered more than you.
Some had Saddle tanks (for the water) which sat over the boiler like the saddle on a horse. Others had a pair of Pannier tanks used like the bags carried by a horse. No wonder they where called "The Iron Horse" in America !
We've got over 150 heritage steam train railways across most of the UK, such as the Great Central Railway in Leicestershire, with all different types of full sizes of locomotives, including the biggest mainline locomotives. We also have lots of steam locomotive tours running on the national rail network which you can ride on or watch as they stop at and pass through stations on the network. However, the private heritage steam railways are more action-packed, interesting and better for kids, rather than the tours on the national network.
The coal didn't look like coke to me. My memories of coke from when I was a kid is that the lumps have lots of holes in them where the volatiles have been driven off in the retort used to heat the coal. Coke was a by-product of the process for making town gas before North Sea natural gas came along. I think the shiny appearance of the coal here is because it is high-grade hard coal - probably anthracite or "steam coal", as opposed to low-grade softer coal that contains more suphur and tarry compounds which make it burn dirty. One of the reasons why the Great Western Railway's steam locos performed so well for their size was that they were fuelled on Welsh steam coal (from the South Wales coalfields), which burned hot and cleanly.
I'm sure and can see people recommend great steam attractions so can I focus in on something your daughter said that crosses into our channel's specialty? Are you aware of Thomas the Tank Engine land at Drayton Manor. A whole Thomas theme park with steam rides too and a great Zoo. The main DM theme park is also aimed squarely at the family market. It's near Tamworth which I believe is convenient for you guys? West Midlands right?
You know my grandad used to volunteer there and in 2018 he passed away and because he used to be a guard on the trains we put his ashes on cwynedd the train that you see in 1:16 minutes in the video so we put the ashes in and we blew them out that was a sad day
If your ever in North Yorkshire the ride from Pickering to Grosmont is well worth a ride but check that it’s the steam that is running rather than a diesel, It was used in a Harry Potter movie and featured in an old tv program called Heatbeat ( worth having a watch to understand 60s England. York railway museum is massive full of static locos old rail artefact and I believe still free to enter