L&B Thames Valley Group report.
Published: 24th February, 2024
The L&B Thames Valley Group took the publicity stand to the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway on Saturday the 17th and Sunday 18th February 2024.
Members of the Thames Valley Group were pleased to receive an invitation to take their exhibition stand to the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway (ELR) recently. On Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th February ELR were celebrating the return to service of their 7.25” gauge steam locomotive TAW after a major overhaul. The ELR loco is a miniature version of one of the four Manning Wardle locomotives which ran on the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway from 1898 until the closure of the line in 1935.
ELR made the members manning the L&B stand very welcome. We were given exclusive use of their ‘party room’ with one door facing the coffee shop and another door leading onto the platform. We had a steady stream of visitors during the two days including many with babies, toddlers or young children.
As usual, we handed out leaflets about the L&B, Exmoor National Park and Lynton & Lynmouth. Lots of the people we spoke to said our conversation with them had whetted their appetite to pay a visit to Woody Bay Station and The Old Station Inn in the months to come!
Thanks to Jean Slocombe, Brian Grant, John Jones and Roger Beazer for all their support during those two enjoyable days at the ELR.
The next outing for the L&B stand will be to the Basingstoke Model Railway Show on 9th and 10th March. This link https://www.basingstokemrs.org/exhibition-2024.html will give you more details of that event.
06 April 2024
