Chasing Steam and Beer Pumps: A Weekend of Railway Misadventures

We were incredibly unlucky with trains this weekend. It sounds like we simply missed a connection, but the reality is a bit more frustrating—we kept missing the spectacle.

Our first near-miss was with the Buxton Spa Express steam charter. Driving back from Derby, we noticed crowds of photographers gathering near the tracks at Dove Holes and Chapel-en-le-Frith. Sensing an opportunity, we joined the wait. An hour later, shivering in the sudden rain, we learned the train was heavily delayed and decided to cut our losses. The ultimate irony? I later discovered the train made a scheduled water stop at Denton—practically on our doorstep.

Our second railway misadventure took us to the Barrow Hill Roundhouse near Chesterfield. I last visited this incredible survivor of the steam age back in 2016, and remembered it being a quiet, atmospheric place for photography. This time, we arrived to find a bustling beer festival in full swing.

While a beer festival sounds great in theory, it’s less ideal when you have a 20-mile cycle ride ahead of you and a long drive home. Worse for photography, many of the iconic locomotives had been moved outside, and the ones left in the roundhouse were obscured by bars and beer pumps. We did manage to salvage the day with a short train ride included in the ticket, which offered a decent view of the two locomotives waiting at the end of the platform.

It was a bit of a washout of a weekend for photography, but as every photographer knows, failure just sets the stage for a better run next weekend.

Photography Notes:
Location: Barrow Hill Roundhouse, Derbyshire, and the Peak District rail corridor.
Subject: Vintage diesel/steam locomotives and heritage railway architecture.
The Real-World Lesson: Heritage rail sites are fantastic for industrial textures, but always check their events calendar before turning up with a tripod. A beer festival changes the lighting, the crowds, and the availability of the locomotives dramatically!