Churnet Valley Steam Railway

For Christmas I bought Geoff a "footplate experience" on a steam train on the Churnet Valley Line near Leek. Today was the 1st date I could book for this to happen. So here we are and this is the steam train that Geoff was on the footplate of. I travelled behind in one of the 1st class carriages! The whole operation is run by volunteers. 

Sadly it was raining when we arrived but the whole experience was great fun and I think that Geoff enjoyed himself. At the same time there was a group of school children who were experiencing what it was like to be an evacuee. The railway had arranged for some people (in their 90's) who were evacuees during WW2 to come along and explain what it was like.