My parents live in Sussex, and we have often passed the turning to the Bluebell Railway and commented that we really should go and have a look one day! So we decided to do just that on my Dad's birthday this year.
The Bluebell Railway runs a number of steam trains between East and West Sussex. Just look at how majestic these things are. A far cry from the trains we frequently use nowadays.
My dad and I stood there and admired the engines for a while, asking questions about how it works (coal is burnt, which heats water, which turns into steam, which turns a motor - FYI), and watching the conductor and engineers at work. It's really heavy and very dirty work, and watching them frankly made me quite exhausted and very hungry.
Which was just as well, because we had booked Afternoon Tea on the Wealdon Rambler - an old fashioned dining car, which looks like this:
It had an old world charm, which I soaked up whilst perusing the menu.
Afternoon tea was served as we whizzed through the beautiful Sussex countryside, choo-choo-ing (and chewing!) away happily.
Lots of sandwiches...
Lots of cakes...
And more cakes! In honesty, it wasn't the best afternoon tea I've had. The sandwiches were nice enough, but the fillings were pretty unimaginative, and the cakes were definitely not homemade. I guess this is all you can expect on a train like this, but worth bearing in mind...
Overall though, it was a really good experience, and a lovely family day out. We gobbled and chattered away for a couple of hours, looking out at the fields and watching smoke of the engine shoot out. An absolute must if you have a train or engineering fan that you're looking to treat.
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