Tuesday 6 March 2012

Rail Ale

One leaflet out of the many I picked up at Wigan beer festival particularly caught my eye: Steel, Steam and Stars III. It describes itself as a Mega 9-day Steam Gala Beer Festival at Llangollen Station, organised by the Betton Grange 6880 Society, whose website states: "In 1955 when British Railways announced its modernisation plan there were over 13,000 steam locomotives at work in the British Isles, by 1968 these had been entirely eliminated. These pages [i.e. on their website] are dedicated to one class of locomotive of which none survived the cutters torch, the Great Western Railway ‘Grange‘ class, and our plans to build a new locomotive to this seventy-five year old design."

The event will feature the society's own steam engines along with some special guests with the opportunity for various rides, plus of course the beer festival at the station. I like steam trains in a general way, but this seems to me to be a very unusual event that is especially suited to real ale-drinking steam buffs. There is a lot more detail on the society's website here. Presumably the beer festival is to help raise funds to recreate the steam engine the society is dedicated to - good luck to them.

2 comments:

  1. Is there any reason why real ale twats also like steam engines? What is the connection? is there a link with morris dancing?

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  2. I know only one real drinker who is a steam engine fanatic. Others who are interested may be in a vague way, like me: I've been on a preserved railway precisely twice, which doesn't actually make me a steam freak. I also know steam engine lovers who aren't particularly real ale drinkers. So if there is a link, it's one I've missed, and I can't explain it.

    I do have fond memories when I was a child of going on trains pulled by steam engines, which must have been just before they were taken out of service.

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