Photo copyright: Maggie May
As I said in my last post, my daughter came to visit with the grandsons at the weekend as she had promised to take the boys to a special exhibition at the Great Western Museum in Swindon.
When my son knew she was going to do this, he decided to take the girls too. So of course, that meant a trip for me.
It was a very rainy day, so it seemed to be a good idea to go to a museum and stay in the dry.
It is about an hours journey, but when we got there, we found that it took almost as long to park the 2 cars. That really was a very bad experience and was not thought out properly. Just not enough space for so many people and everyone was getting so irate trying to find a parking space.
No, I wasn't lying on a track! There was a stairwell that let us walk under this train.
The steam engines were huge and mighty and reminded me of how I used to ride on them when I was a young child, because that was all there was then. They were extremely noisy and probably dirty, but they were always exciting to travel on.
When a steam train thundered into a railway station every one would know about it. As a child they seemed very scary...... like dragons spewing out smoke and steam and needing to be fed continuously with coal.
It was fun walking underneath the engine and being able to see all the workings below.
The children had a very good time and I found it fascinating too, even though it was my second visit there so I knew what to expect.
It was like going back in time, for me.
When we got home, it was still raining.
21 comments:
Would you be talking about the same rain that washed out the Ryder Cup Maggie? That sounded like a great trip to the museum.
I was almost glad of the rain washing out the Ryder Cup asd I had to to work on Sunday, so was up early Monday to see watch the finish.
Getting up close and personal to these steam trains sounds like fun. I must add it to my ever growing list of things to do when I visit.
What a cool series of perspectives. And I happen to love that particular shade of green for this train. So colourful. What a great way to spend a rainy day - except for the parking woes.
The parking sounds like a bother, but being in a museum on a rainy day is something special. I'm not sure why, but most of my memories of museums have rainy days included, so I associate the two, and happily so.
What a great thing to take a little day trip with family. The pictures look interesting and I would love to see the underside of the trains.
Oh, I would LOVE that type of museum! Like most people, I just love trains. I rode a really old one when I was young and visiting in West Virginia. It was so cool!
The Ryder Cup was agreat sucess and Europe won , only one and a bit days were lost due to the amazing staff at the Celti Manor
Reports from all over Europe and the people who were there said it was a brilliant event
Maybe now the Americans will reconsider having it in August/early September.They have been the hold up
Well done Europe
I just love trains and train travel, lifelong obsession for me. We had a train that went around the entire island of Newfoundland, around 900km and there is a museum in St. John's that I never tire of visiting.
How awful about the parking and small kids to manage.
XO
WWW
Now they were what I call trains. Must go there myself - looks very interesting ~ Eddie x
Good to see that some old the old trains have been preserved.
I certainly remember being scared to death of steam engines - the closest things to fire breathing dragons in my imagination1 :)
Loved your pretty pics of them...
Outings are such fun with children and grandkids! Even in the rain. Those steam engines must have been fascinating. I like going back in time.
I also share your dislike of finding a place to park the car!
What lovely shots! Must be amazing to walk underneath a train!
MWM loves trains but that is somewhere we haven't visited. Shame about the parking problems, that may put him off going. ;)
Sounds like another fun trip, Maggie. My Dad has always been fascinated by the old steam engines and used to take us to exhibits when I was young. When I was a little girl, we lived very near a railroad track, and I have vague memories of the last steam engines passing by.
What an interesting place to go!
I am fascinated with trains although I don't like being near them when they roll on by. I'm afraid of them falling over for some reason.
The trains whistles through our little town many many times a day. Unfortunately some (people) are trying to put a stop to the whistle blowing. That would be horrible if they succeeded. They've already got rid of the grain silos and water tower - if they got rid of the train whistles too - we'd just be a boring little prairie town.
that is so cool...my boys would have loved it...we took a train once up in PA...
That was a beautiful train. Trains are a big part of our life here in India. My husband is a daily train commuter.
Maggie,
What super photos! My son would love them. I've just read through your last few posts and think they are super. What you said about Jo was wonderful. You and she are very courageous. I go over to Jo's quite often (and know she is a friend of expatmum's). Thank you for letting me know, Maggie. Big hugs to you too. Hxx
I'm over to Jo's now to send her my best wishes. English language lets me down some times. I do mean all of this in the best possible way. I like blogging but I think there are times when face to face contact is so much better.
I'll bet the children really got a kick out of that! I would have enjoyed it myself. I love riding on a train. Did that in Europe a couple of times.
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