Teddy Train Buffs

The teddy bears like to travel to different places, especially when they are on holiday. But there are places that they like so much they visit again and again. One of these places is Penrhyn Castle in North Wales. They usually visit here when they are on their holidays, and this year was no exception.

It is a great place to visit. There is a neo-Norman fantasy castle. Neo-Norman means that its style, although built from 1820 onwards, actually copies works of Norman buildings from the 11th and 12th centuries - many, many hundreds of years earlier.

It has huge rooms (especially to little teddy bears) with luxurious interiors which the bears can always find something new to gaze at. There is also a walled garden, acres of parkland, a café (always on the bears' list to visit), and a Railway Museum.

It was the Railway Museum especially that Charlie wanted to visit. As you know he loves all things mechanical and construction, so an old stable block full of industrial locomotives had a very powerful appeal, and the other bears readily agreed that on this visit they would concentrate on looking round all the trains on display.

Train locomotives are all given names when they are built, and the bears ran round to find out which they liked the best. They were all very surprised, and Charlie especially so, that the first engine they saw was actually called "Charles"!

"This has to be a very good omen, doesn't it?" he murmured, and he hopped up onto the footplate straight away (with a gentle push upwards from his friends - it was a very big engine!)

Here Charlie could pretend to be the engine driver he always wanted to be. He pressed levers and looked at gauges, and made impressive steam train noises - like "chuff, chuff!" for the engine puffing, and "whoo-hoo!" for the train whistle! He was having a great time!

The other bears also explored the exhibits, maybe not so interested in the engines as Charlie, but definitely up for pretending to be passengers, either in the comfortable interiors of the railway coaches, or all squashed together in the open carriages. It was great fun pretending to be on long train journeys, looking out the windows, or sitting on the velvet couches.

Charlie visited every engine and was entranced by all the mechanical gadgetry. There was lots more equipment to look at than in any modern train locomotive and it seemed that there would have been a great deal to learn in order to be a train driver in the olden days.

Lizzie had been watching Charlie trying out all the engines and was fascinated by all the switches and dials. Charlie suggested she might like to climb up onto the footplate to be his assistant, to which she readily agreed.

"What type of engine is this?" she asked Charlie when they were both stood in the driver's cab of the Charles. "Does it run on electricity or diesel?" she asked, knowing what modern trains used.

"Neither!" laughed Charlie. "These old engines ran on steam!" he declared.

"Gosh!" replied Lizzie. "Like what comes out of the spout of an electric kettle? How would that work then?"

"Well, let's see!" Charlie began, trying to make it as simple as possible for someone not so mechanically minded. "There's a fire box here which the fireman would load coal into and burn. The coal burns at 1400 degrees Fahrenheit. That's really hot! You wouldn't be able to touch most of these levers and switches without some sort of protection if this steam engine was running!

A water tank sits next to the fire box. The heat from the burning coal causes the water to boil. As the water boils, it makes steam - like a kettle. The steam builds up in pressure and causes pistons to move. Pistons are basically just cylinders in a tube and can move back and forth. The pistons are attached to rods and the rods are attached to the train's wheels. As the pistons move, the rods and wheels move and the train moves forward."

The other bears had gathered round to hear Charlie's explanation and to Charlie's relief they didn't all look too bamboozled by his description. Instead, they had looked really interested and many of them had understood quite a bit. They were very impressed that he knew so much about steam engines, but then remembered that he did have a load of well-thumbed books at home about all sorts of mechanics. They were glad they had been able to visit such an interesting place for him, even without all the heat and steam!

"But now," Charlie declared, "it's time for a break! All this train driving is very tiring! Let's go to the café - the drinks and cakes are on me!" All the bears rushed off to enjoy Charlie's kind offer.

If ever you are in the area of Penrhyn Castle, do drop in to look at all the trains. Maybe you could pretend to be train drivers for the day too!