Axe in revenue service at Woody Bay, March 1st 2009

The 11:30 steaming up the 1 in 50 towards the station with a train full of passengers on the first day of service.

Axe in steam at Woody Bay, Armistice Day , 11/11/08

Steaming past the newly installed advertising boards on the Down Platform during the Armistice Day commemoration and dedication. More pictures of the event can be found here.

A 93-year Journey…

                    From this (1915)…

                
                                            … 1983 …

                         
                                                     … 2006 …

                                   
                                                          … October 2008 …

                                            
                                                                     … 10/11.2008 …

                                                       
                                                             … 11th November, 2008 … to this!!

Why Axe was so important

When the railway re-opened at Woody Bay in 2004, we had no steam locos of our own so we had to hire them in. Although there are long-term projects to build replicas of one of the original L&B Manning Wardle 2-6-2Ts as well as Lyn the Baldwin engine,  these are far larger locos and in the meantime the Railway needed a steam engine of its own.