TRIPS & VISITS
Barrow Hill Roundhouse & Butterly Midland Railway
We ran a competition where we asked you how many cans of paint it took to paint the railway mural in Westhouses? Well it took a whopping 275 cans!
One family from Blackwell had the nearest guess (by a country mile) of 280 cans! What a great guess! Their victory led them to get all aboard to visit the local museum at Barrow Hill that boasts Britain’s last surviving working Roundhouse!
Here’s them enjoying their visit
We’ve had another Railway Visit too!
Remember the railway brothers from Westhouses who’s dad drove the very train that was sprayed on the train mural? (Read about that here)
Well, their stories were so amazing that they’ve been involved in a local oral history heritage project with us (and we can’t wait to reveal this soon)… but the brothers took to the tracks with Greater Creative working party member Pam and ‘One Little Duck’ Creative Wendy Ducksbury!
“On 1st of May we had a Sunday outing to The Midland Railway at Butterley. Our diesel train departed at 10.50 am, and after a short journey we arrived at Swanwick Station ready for a cuppa, a slice of cake and a journey into the past.”
“We had a great time exploring the Railway and Transport Museums, the model railways and even got to go into the original Westhouses Tin Tabernacle, St Saviours Church. As we were admiring the beautifully restored 1950s and 60’s buses Pam and I were regaled with wonderful stories of memorable outings and trips to the seaside years ago. We didn’t quite manage a trip on a full size steam engine, but instead enjoyed a ride on the narrow gauge steam train which gave us all a taste of days gone by. Who doesn’t love the sound of a steam train whistle?”
For more info about the Midland Railway Butterley visit midlandrailway-butterley.co.uk
This pic here sees the brothers stood in the once loved Westhouses St Saviours Tin Tabernacle church that has been carefully reconstructed on this site. This church is currently being illustrated by local artist Emma Reynard for another Greater Creative project which again these brothers have been working on to support the content of creating a new interpretation board for Westhouses industrial past.