The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, and adjacent Museum, have been high on the visits list for ages - that’s the theme of this trip, crossing off some of the bucket list! Like many places they’re struggling a bit to merge old and new technologies; you’re asked to book online and either print out the email or have it on your mobile so they can scan the barcode, total waste of time as the barcode scanner won’t work at all with phones and struggles with any printed version that’s been folded (the barcode is right in the middle of the page!) So as the queue built up, the one prebooking is supposed to prevent, they resorted to finding people on their printout and crossing them off when issuing tickets.
Motive power for the day was an ex-NCB Hunslet tank engine:
Post-COVID you’re allocated to a coach, which was no problem except it was full of railway photographers -see the anoraks! 😀 I had a bit chat with some of them, all friendly, and got a few photos of the journey. It’s quite a scenic line in some respects as you’ve got the sea one side and woodland the other, but then you also go past Grangemouth oil refinery, albeit at a distance. The line runs up to a terminus at Manuel (Que?) which also has their link to the mainline, quite important as they’ve been working with companies developing battery and even hydrogen powered units, although typically these arrive by road!
The museum was interesting enough, a few locos, wagons and coaches but very little memorabilia, this probably reflects the fact it’s all part of the SRPS - Scottish Railway Preservation Society. Being able to get very close to some wagons gave me more idea of brake mechanisms and a wooden hopper wagon also helped - several planks were missing so I could see the inside hopper arrangements. I rounded off the visit with a decent lunch in the buffet.
I’d have liked to visit the Bo’ness Motor Museum but it’s only open on weekends so instead I called in at a farm shop I’d spotted for supplies - Ayrshire Bacon and Lorne Sausage will sort the next couple of breakfasts nicely.
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