Richmond Light Railway Charity Steam Fair 2024

10/8/24

Here is a new railway for me, the Richmond Light Railway in Kent! This is a private narrow gauge railway which only has a few open days each year, very popular too, hence we tried to quickly get on one as we heard the railway was really nice. A good amount of track present here to keep people occupied, I was very impressed with the whole railway, I'd say this is comparable to both former Beeches Light Railway and Statfold, the setting of Beeches and the huge amount of activity of Statfold.

This was the Charity Steam Fair, so 5 steam locomotives were in operation on the main track throughout the day, with a 6th doing Driver for a Fiver. Two diesels were present throughout the day too, however, one was covering services whilst the steam was being taken off to prepare for the cavalcade, and the other was taking the slate wagons ready for the steam to take, a shunter i suppose.
As mentioned, at around 3, a slate run with 4 wagons trundled around the track, with a couple of steam at the helm, was especially pleased to see Sybil at the front of one! As well as this, to round off the day, a cavalcade of ALL 6 steam locomotives paraded around a circuit as can be seen at the end of the video, a very impressive sight!

Several Driver Experiences were available throughout the day, first being Leary, a vertical boiler locomotive doing Driver for a Fiver, I just simply had to have a go! Was curious to see what driving a Vertical boiler would be like, definitely different!
Also available was the opportunity to drive various Traction engines and Steam Rollers from the ones in the fleet, they swapped round the order and vehicles throughout the day, the most prominent being Endeavour and Canterbury Corporation/ Invicta. These are the two I tried out. With these, you had the wheel whilst the driver did the rest, believe me, don't think that made it easier😅 The traction engine was fine, 4 wheels made it easy to steer, the roller on the other hand, was definitely a challenge and I loved it!

In operation on the track were:
. Decauville Type 1 'Chuqitanta'
. Decauville Type 3 'Lily'
. Quarry Hunslet 'Sybil'
. Quarry Hunslet 'Elin'
. Bagnall 'Pixie'
(Recently returned from overhaul)
. Boston Lodge built 'Leary'