Connections to Campbell's

Mr Redfern arrives as fresh as a daisy

Mr Redfern is the current record holder for the fastest rail journey from Walthamstow Central to Campbell's Platform. Changing at Euston, Crewe, Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog, he arrived seven hours later as fresh as a daisy.

It's great to live part way up a mountain in Snowdonia but it's even better when you're connected to the world by a steam train.

Sometimes we get international visitors like Frank. Including a 14 hour flight to Heathrow and an overnight stop near Paddington, he arrived at Campbell's 30 hours after leaving Damascus. He still holds the record for Damascus to Campbell's.

Speaking of connections to Campbells .... I was working in the veg patch on Saturday and stopped to chat with a walker who turned out to be Delia, the niece of the late Mary Campbell. She told me about her holidays in the 1960s, before the railway was restored and long before the drive was built. They used to load their luggage and supplies on a flat wagon at Tan y Bwlch Station, then her brothers and father would take it in turn to push it up the line to what later became Campbell's Platform.