Moreton Pit Light Railway

The MPLR reserve manager was enthralled and (just a little bit) surprised the other afternoon to discover a new species on the reserve.  Was it a sighting at last of the guffinhawk?  Have we got the lesser spotted platypuss?  Pssss… what’s that noise?  Actually, it was a pair of grass snakes!  They were seen originally near the waterfall at the waterworks and surprised Mr and Mrs F Controller out of their skins (luckily the snakes kept theirs!) but a camera was soon called for to confirm the sighting.  This morning Mrs F Controller was able to take a very quick photo before they disappeared again.

As the picture shows the grass snake is curled up on the rocks just above the waterfall.  Unfortunately it was moving quite fast and so a better photo is yet to be taken, but we can get a slightly closer look!

So, next time you hear something hissing when you visit the MPLR it may not be just the release of steam!

We hope that all you train enthusiasts will forgive us just this once for putting in this diary something that has nothing to do with trains!  It is not often that you come across a protected species in your garden!

Yes, it was Ossie Day at the MPLR today!  After all the hard work of the Open Day last Sunday the staff of the MPLR decided to have a day to themselves and concentrated on all the ‘ossie’ locos in the MPLR stable!  Patrick has not been run for quite a few months and so got a wipe down with an oily rag and a polish, fuelled up and set off round the reserve.

The staff all came out for the afternoon to watch the fun, even though the weather did seem a bit dodgy!

At one point there was a little problem with Vincent and Willi came galiantly to the rescue!

 

But it was a great afternoon and all three locos proved their worth, certainly a day worth repeating.