I’m not going to lie. Sharon and I are total nerds. We love new gadgets, we love new technology. But we also have a love and respect for older gadgets and technology. If anything, the older technology is far more impressive, in my opinion, and often more beautiful.

So when T’s grandad decided to take us to Bluebell Railway the Sunday after we came back from holiday I was over the moon.

Bluebell is an old Railway that has a working line from Sheffield Park to East Grinstead. It boasts the largest collection of steam locomotives and is primarily run by volunteers. I’ve only ever seen a steam engine from afar, but I’ve never been on one!

As soon as we arrived, we booked ourselves on for 10:30 train to East Grinstead. When Grandad was booking for tickets, I was admiring my surroundings. The station is quite literally a time capsule.

Whilst we were waiting we had a brief look around the museum, book shop, and the back yard where trains that weren’t in use were kept. T enjoyed running in between trains, making his voice echo and listening to Grandad tell him about the trains.

10:30 rolled round and it was time to board our train. Don’t ask me which one we were on – I’m a nerd but not an anorak! We quickly secured ourselves our own carriage, which was a blessing as T was full of steam (get it?) and wouldn’t have kept still in the main compartment.

T enjoyed looking out the window and listening to the toot toots, I enjoyed looking at every piece of history in the carriage – some pieces I even remember being in trains when I was little. With the weather being on our side, the journey was really pleasant – a perfect end to our week off.

After a visit to East Grinstead where we treated Grandad to cake, we were back at the station and on a train back to Sheffield Park. On the way, we decided to stop at the stations in between and browse the museums based there. Again, stuck in time, with shops and cafes looking no different than when they were in use back in *coughs*. They were stunning.

After a short delay thanks to signal failure (some things never change), we departed our station and arrived at Sheffield Park – having a very brief look around the rather expensive gift shop.

I would definitely recommend giving the railway a visit. You don’t have to ride the trains, but it’s worth it if you do.

K