Three in One

This weekend the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre was celebrating its 50th 'birthday' so I went to see what was going on.  They had four of their engines in steam and I managed to get three of them in this shot; 6989 'Wightwick Hall' on the left which has only recently been restored and returned to steam, Metropolitan Railway 0-4-4T 'No 1' on the right, and in the middle distance Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST No 1742 'Millom'.  The headboard on Wightwick Hall celebrates the centenary on 5th September of the birth of Dai Woodham.  Mr Woodham owned a scrapyard in South Wales and in the 1960's realised he could probably make more money from all the withdrawn steam engines in his yard by keeping them until enthusiasts could afford to buy and restore them than he could by scrapping them, and so became a bit of a hero in the preservation world.  Wightwick Hall was the 150th steam engine to be rescued from his yard.

I've added an extra of the Met No 1 getting a good fire up ready to take over the train shuttle from Wightwick Hall.  Oh, and in case you think I was standing in the middle of a railway line to get the shot, I was.  But it was perfectly safe.....