This proved to be "Rachel's Day" as by far she had the most fun of all of us and really made the day worthwhile.

We headed off from Salisbury having had a wonderful breakfast (I really love cooked breakfasts now!), and made our way back towards Arlesford. On arrival we found one of the few remaining "close" parks and walked up to the station. I had chosen to wear shorts and with the clouds gathering I could sense impending disappointment. We had booked this ages ago and had been looking forward to it - for the kids of course! There were lots of people, a tent selling absolutely anything and everything Thomas. Trevor and a mean looking Bertie were on display. I ended up buying Rachel a flag to wave (fond memories of my child hood waving flags at trains) and we got the next steam train (sorry, I don't know its name!) and traveled one station down the line to Ropley. Ben was so excited he couldn't sit still and shuffled between us via the top of the table.

This was where it was all happening - apparently. And, to be fair, it did. I suppose that we were just expecting the facilities in general to be a bit better considering the crowd

Thomas and Diesel tootled up and back in between the trains carrying passengers. They ended up having a race. No prize for guessing the winner - a stewards investigation is sure to follow. The Fat Controller made the occasional appearance, but seemed to have lost some weight.

We were able to explore "the yards" where James was in dry dock. Adam took Rachel up the ladder onto James. This somehow upset her and he had to quickly bring her down again. We could also see Thomas and the other Steam Engines at close quarters. We had to tread carefully as a layer of soot covered everything. Parents all around us were cleaning their blackened kids.

We had a picnic lunch but the quality of food and the area available was pretty poor. Adam and I had to alternate standing at the fence with Rachel who was determined not to miss any of the action. Ben was more interested in food!

Eventually we called it a day and decided to take the train back to Arlesford. When the train arrived at the station it whistled loudly. This startled Ben causing him to cry. Arlesford station was less crowded and we were able to sit in comfort on chairs and enjoy a coffee/cool drink/ice cream. Rachel was now very tired but could still muster a flag wave every so often!

Time for a quick pose with Trevor. Adam (who took the photo) had said that it was a nice photo of one of us - I didn't realise he meant Trevor! We headed back to London, which was a nice quiet trip - both kids slept practically the whole way. We were back in London around 4.30 - a record early return for a weekend away!