Hi all,

took Helen to Rugby last Sunday for the official steam test and got to
give her her first run. It all went much better than I expected and
she performed beyond my wildest dreams. The first lap was a bit of a
disaster as I lost pressure about 3/4 of the way around the track but
I was more interested in hanging on than keeping the fire going! It's
quite frightening when you drive for the first time as you seem to be
going much faster than you really are due to the closeness to the track.
The second attempt went much better ( after trying some new coal
donated by Peter de Salis-Johnston)and I completed about seven laps
with the safety valves blowing off all the time until I let the fire
get too low and I lost it all together. There's a lot to think about
when driving these small locos!

In all the excitement I didn't manage to get any photos so if anyone
out there was at the rally and took some pics of me driving round I
would love to have some copies,

John