A full day at the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway featuring visiting loco Sir Berkeley of 1890 vintage 

About this event

We are delighted to be returning to Mid-Suffolk for a full day charter at the MSLR featuring Sir Berkeley paired with the lovely heritage stock that is based at Brockford in the beautiful rural tranquility of the superbly-restored station site, period buildings and their environs.

The Mid-Suffolk Railway is the county’s only standard gauge heritage steam railway. It may be short in length, but is in many ways perfectly formed with an absolutely superb station at Brockford which has now been painstakingly restored to reflect the period ambiance typical of country byways of yesteryear. Three original Mid-Suffolk Light Railway buildings have been erected at Brockford which include the former Mendlesham Station with its booking office, parcels store and passenger waiting area. The line is currently being extended to give in due course a longer run to a new terminus station of Aspall Halt. 


Sir Berkeley is an L Class 0-6-0T which dates from 1890 and is Manning Wardle Works Number 1210. At that time, one of Manning Wardle’s regular customers at their Boyne Engine Works in Leeds was the engineering contractors Logan and Hemingway. They worked mostly on railway-related contracts and Sir Berkeley, as their No.30, was employed in the building of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway which later became the Great Central Railway including construction of what became Nottingham Victoria Station. After Logan and Hemingway went into liquidation in 1935, the loco was sold to the Cranford Ironstone Company in Northamptonshire where it acquired its Sir Berkeley nameplates. It variously worked at Pilton Quarry in Rutland and Byfield Quarry, and was rebuilt in the early 1950s. Retirement came in 1963 and Sir Berkeley was snatched from the jaws of the scrap metal merchant by Roger Crombleholme in 1964. It was purchased by the Vintage Carriages Trust in the 1970s and taken to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. 

The locomotive is paying a short working visit to the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway over the Easter holidays and appears for our event courtesy of owners the Vintage Carriages Trust and its current  base, the Middleton Railway in Leeds. Being over 130 years old and restored to near its original condition, the Manning Wardle will look stunning paired with the vintage coaching stock of the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway. We will also use some of the excellent goods rolling stock during the day including the restored horse box. Coupled with the rural ambiance of the line’s lovely station buildings, this has the potential to make a superb day of photography. 


We expect our event to start at 10.00 hours (please arrive from 09.45 onwards) and to run until circa 18.00 with a break for lunch so as to take advantage of any late afternoon light. Free parking is available at the station. Our visits to Brockford have always been enjoyable and very successful, and we look forward to welcoming you to the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway in April 2025 for a rewarding day of railway photography.

Event requirements

Equipment

• Spare batteries
• Camera
• Lense cloths
• Lenses

Knowledge

• All levels welcome

Fitness

• Low

Other essentials

• Sturdy outdoor shoes
• Warm clothing