Mixing Drinks

Having taken a week off work I thought I might get around to a little modelling or maybe some research for the next Penistone historical post. As it is I've done nothing railway related at all; I haven't even found a home for the badger yet! This week has given plenty of opportunity for a good drink or two though (there is always mulled wine while the Christmas tree goes up), and fortunately that has given me the chance to do at least one post this week.

When I visited the National Railway Museum in York for the Great Gathering I did of course have a look around the shop. There wasn't much that took my fancy, but they did have a serious supply of beer and beer glasses which I just couldn't leave alone. I've mentioned the Flying Scotsman beer from the Caledonian Brewery before on the blog and not only were they selling the beer but they had matching glasses as well. Flying Scotsman wasn't the only beer on sale though, as the Wold Top brewery have produced a beer to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Mallards record breaking run. I wanted to try the Mallard beer but wasn't so taken with the logo which also appeared on the matching glass. So in the end I bought Mallard beer and a Flying Scotsman glass and mixed the two together leading to a very pleasant evening!

First Class Refreshment

When I visited Model Rail Live last year, as well as admiring Chris Nevard's Polbrock layout, I was also interested in the beer bottle sat on the fiddle yard; it appeared to be called Flying Scotsman! Unfortunately it wasn't in an easy position to get a good look at the label, and Chirs was deep in conversation with others who were admiring his excellent layout.

Unfortunately by the time I got home (with a side trip to Meadowhall) I'd forgotten about the beer bottle. I've no idea why I remembered about the beer a few weeks ago, but I did, and so I set off to try and find some. It turns out that it is indeed called Flying Scotsman and is brewed by the Caledonian Brewery in Edinburgh. As I couldn't find any local shops selling it I settled for using the breweries mail order website to order eight 500ml bottles.

Given the picture on the label I was fairly certain that it was being brewed in relation to Flying Scotsman the locomotive, rather than the route from London to Edinburgh, and the label bears out this assumption:

Introducing Caledonian Flying Scotsman Premium Bitter which has been specially brewed to celebrate the return of the world's most famous locomotive after a major restoration programme at the National Railway Museum in York. Salute the loco with a glass of this superb beer. The finest barley from the north and robust southern hops combine to produce a full flavoured beer. Look for a raisin-like spiciness and a superb toasty dryness. Caledonian Flying Scotsman -- First Class refreshment from Edinburgh to London and beyond.

I can now reliably inform you all that it is an excellent beer; as the label says, it is indeed a First Class Refreshment!

Cautionary Tale No. 4472 [Part V]

Given that my interest in steam trains started with the Flying Scotsman, I thought it was only right to have the first interesting post on this blog be a continuation of Cautionary Tale No. 4472 (you can read parts I-IV here, here, here, and here).

So having finally retrieved my trains from my parents loft I can now show you the model that started it all. I received this model as a Christmas present from my parents way back in 1982. Unfortunately, as you will know if you've read the previous parts of this tale, I was too ill (a bout of childhood asthma) to actually move off the chair and play with it.

Given that it's at least 15 years since I last ran any of my model trains I was amazed that after a few drops of oil and a little light greasing Flying Scotsman pulled away from the station. I'm not sure if it's able to go quite as fast as it once did, but that might be down to the controller I'm using (I'm not overly impressed by Hornby's new starter controller but I'll leave that for a future post). The important thing is that it's running well enough to be enjoyed.

Having now taken it apart to give it a long over due clean (something I don't think it's ever had) I can tell you that it's a Hornby R.855 model. According to Hornby Railways Collector Guide this model was last included in the catalogue in 1977, so I'm guessing that either it had been sat around in a model shop for a while or it was bought second-hand. The second-hand option is more likely as I know that's how we obtained a number of the other locomotives and also I can't ever remember there being a box with it. Either way it was a wonderful present. I can't imagine that many people have a childhood Christmas present that they still really enjoy playing with 30 years later!