Tees Valley MG Owners Club run to Tanfield Railway

It was a good turn out with nine cars meeting at Yarm station and one car going directly to Tanfield. We took the B GT as the TA was still out of comission.

I was too busy chatting to get any pictures at the start and we were soon on our way. The route was mainly A roads because of the distance to be covered and we made good time. We had one navigational error in Darlington because I wasn't listening to my navigator. We weren't the only ones and soon got back on track.

It was bright sunshine at Tanfield but there was a strong biting wind on the hilltop. Down by the line in the valley it was much more pleasant. First order of the day was a comfort stop followed by food, then it was time to explore.

The two locos in steam were No.2 and Sir Cecil A Cochrane and they did a sterling job double headed. The train ride was a pleasant run and very reasonably priced.

The sheds were fascinating with loads of old machining equipment. There was enough old rolling stock to keep the volunteers busy for a century or two.

I'd spent so much time hanging around for video shots that by the time we got back to the car everybody else had gone home. We do believe in getting good value from out days out so we drove down the road a bit to Causey Arch, the oldest railway bridge in the world.

From the car park there were two ways to the Arch. One down into the valley and back up again and one across the top. We took the first route but we didn't make the same mistake and came back across the top, much easier on the legs.

The B got some admiring looks as we sipped the remains of our flasks and we rolled on home.