I have to begin by saying that the weather forecast on the evening of the Friday for Saturday was not favourable for minor railway open carriage travel - heavy rain and high winds for most of Saturday. My journey down the M6 to Whitfield was entirely consistent with Friday's forecast but by the time of arrival the rain had ceased and didn't appear again during either visit. Arriving at the 10¼'' gauge Whitfield Light Railway (MR P20) in plenty of time, allowed a brief wait in the excellent café before its 10.00 opening for refreshments and the party to gather and be advised by our organiser, Neil Lewis, that rides would commence at 10.30.

I had previously visited in Jul 2020 (the month the railway opened on its present formation, previously it had been peripatetic). It was my first railway event after the first lockdown, as a reasonably local 'test the water' visit, which I'm sure many of us experienced after being 'OOU' for several months of lockdown. The outer terminus was then at the MINI MAZE and the line has since been extended alongside the pond to the site of a large fallen tree (thanks to Storm Arwen in Nov 2021) which had only just missed the buffer stops. The intention is to extend it around the pond to form a circle and rejoin it in the area previously known as Mini Maze but moving that tree will be quite a task!

Two journeys down the main line by Loco No3 'Kestrel' and open carriages from the Top Station to the Fallen Tree buffer stop were taken, during the second of which I realised the track at the Top Station had been realigned since my earlier visit. [The line used to extend a bit further, alongside the car park, but this involved a level crossing over an internal road track and had a steep gradient so it was cut back.] This railway, like many others, has constant changes with realignments, extensions etc so if you haven't been to a particular railway for a couple of years you will probably gain track, especially if it's our visit doing track not in use on a normal public running day (item 1079 has public running details).

We then transferred to open carriage No1 with Loco 31 'Scamp' for several trips to accommodate all the participants from the Top Station to the branch into the container serving as the shed for locos and stock. Both shed roads were available and we travelled as far as possible into the shed utilising a section of removable track at the doorway. With all available track accomplished and time for a chat with the owner and his son about the changes made to date and their future intentions - the pond extension already mentioned, but also a further loco is very likely later this year. Two other features of this railway are how the skyline is dominated by the closed but still intact Fiddlers Ferry Power Station and the remarkable variety of passenger trains on the nearby Warrington Central to Liverpool line.

After the donation cheque was presented it was time to retire to the café for a warm up round of refreshments and to discuss the best way to our next venue, the 7¼'' 800yd Royden Park Miniature Railway home of the Wirral Model Engineering Society. Four possible routes emerged - first, the new (Oct 2017) Mersey Gateway Bridge, the shortest route but remember to pay the £2 toll by phone or internet. Second the original refurbished Runcorn (Silver Jubilee) Bridge alongside the rail bridge with the same toll, thirdly and shortest via Liverpool and the Mersey Tunnel, £2 cash or card, but a queue to pay and Liverpool traffic delays. Finally, retrace to Warrington and then M56 and M53 virtually the whole way but a bit more mileage but toll free. I chose the latter but the new bridge was the quickest by a small margin in that the free refreshments were well underway when I arrived at Royden Park.

A rake of carriages was stabled on the track set in the floor through the kitchen/clubroom which leads to the shed, so all aboard for a push back as far as possible by organiser Neil and one of his (not so little these days) children helpers. Then it was reverse to the outside door for double headed locos 'Royden' and 'Little Cliffy' to be attached and haul us up the kitchen branch to the three-platform five-track terminal station, where public rides start. Two full circuits of the system followed after a cross platform change of train, utilising the third loco in use during our visit, steamer 'Peter George'.

There followed a complicated series of trips by both trains to do all five tracks at the station and the end of line turntable variations, the steaming bay single line twice (the second trip after wagons at the buffers on the first trip had been moved to allow us a vital extra 3yd) and the three lines steaming bay lines further down the main lines. While doing the latter one of the volunteers said that he had been there since the line opened in 2000 and was sure coaching stock had never been in the steaming bays or over the turntable before. [That's what we like to hear!] These trips involved many loco swaps to place them at the right end to maximise track coverage but the volunteers were very enthusiastic to ensure we covered everything available. Two items to mention at this point are that this railway, like Whitfield, had experienced tree trouble as a result of Storm Arwen with the area round the steaming bays badly affected. Piles of recently removed branches were certainly there for all to see. Secondly, because it isn't possible to socially distance on the elevated line, situated beyond the turntable, it had not been used since the start of Covid and remains OOU. Just time for a full circuit before a brief wait at the station and a return run down the kitchen branch and back to the starting point inside the kitchen. It was then fascinating to see the bogies removed, stored on the track and each carriage lifted mechanically onto a three storey stacking device - they don't call them Model Engineers for nothing!

So from a somewhat depressing weather forecast on the Friday evening we had managed to do both visits in the dry, with all available track and locos at both locations. Sincere thanks are in order to Neil and his helpers Ruby and Archie (both Society members) for the organisation in advance and on the day, and also to the volunteers at both railways for their help in making a super day out for us.