4 go mad in Somerset!

Following Bellerophon's recent triumph in Somerset I have been sent the following photos from Richard Barnett, one of the famous 4, well ok not so famous, and that does include me, Matt, Rich and Belle! Anyway, here are the photos with Belle and the turntable in two and Belle with your's truly following the return to Minehead from the evening run to Blue Anchor.

Whilst Bellerophon was mainly restricted to pottering round Minehead yard and the evening trips to Blue Anchor and back, the triumphs were the moves to and from Bishops Lydeard in company with Pamela... err I mean Thomas from the Mid Hants Railway. The trip to Minehead was done on 1/4 of a tank of water, not bad for 19 miles, ok it was light engine with Thomas. However, the return trip, whilst in the company of Thomas again was not without incident. By the time they got to Williton Thomas was struggling for steam whilst Belle was sizzling nicely. As they got stuck into the bank from Williton to Crowcombe, 4 miles of 1 in 150 and steeper, it was obvious that Thomas really wasn't enjoying the coal and after a mile or so Thomas' driver indicated to Matt (who was driving) that enough was enough and shut off. Bellerophon proceeded to push Thomas over the remaining 2 miles to Crowcombe without any trouble and when the ensemble reached Bishops Lydeard the driver of Thomas commented that Bellerophon had opened a few eyes over the weekend.

There has been suggestions of a return visit at some time in the not so distant future, watch this space!

Dont' forget that the Gala is on over the 17th and 18th July and looks like being a good one once again!