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  PHOTO GALLERY GROUP 23
 
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Above: Hadlow Road station on the Wirral Way (from Hooton to West Kirby) is a showcase for this former railway, which was the first old line in the country to be converted into a railway path – thanks largely to Capt. Laurence Beswick, who was the driving force behind a local campaign launched in the 1960s to have the old line re-used. The wheels started to turn in the campaign's favour when Cheshire County Council published a report in 1968 entitled 'Cheshire Countryside – A Scheme for a Wirral Country Park'. Five years later, the line's conversion was complete. Note the new multi-use surface in the foreground. March 2007. (Bob Prigg)
 
Above: The major engineering work on the Wirral Way is Neston rock cutting, seen here. When the old railway was converted into a railway path, Neston Urban District Council had started to use the cutting as a landfill site, which required twenty lorry-loads of rubbish to be removed to get back to trackbed level. Unfortunately, NUDC also managed to install a concrete sewer (seen here on the left), although the local rangers covered it in mosses which disguise it rather well. The walls of the cutting now host a wide variety of unusual plant life. March 2007. (Bob Prigg)
 
Above: Railway Ramblers' Family History Division. While walking the Wirral Way, our party stopped off in one of the local churchyards so that member Larry Smith could visit his grandmother's grave, seen here. (She was Mary Smith, named in the unleaded inscription half way down the stone.) We understand that Larry was punished for this detour with a number of dire wisecracks about 'Granny Smith'. March 2007. (Bob Prigg)
 
Above: Barrow Hill Roundhouse. When the club visited this last surviving roundhouse in 1992, it was in a ruinous state, but now the preservationists have got to work and turned it into a major railway preservation and restoration centre. And, yes, that is an advert for Deuchar's IPA in the bottom right hand corner of the picture, for this was the scene on the occasion of Barrow Hill's 6th Annual Beer Festival. Beer and trains – a railway rambler's dream! Incidentally, the locomotive is no. 506, Butler Henderson, the only preserved passenger locomotive from the 19th century Great Central Railway. May 2007. (Ivor Sutton)
 
Above: 0-6-0T 'Terrier' no. 662 from the former London, Brighton & South Coast Railway (formerly no. 62, Martello), seen in action at Barrow Hill. The engine was visiting the roundhouse from its home at Bressingham Steam Museum in Norfolk to operate steam-hauled shuttle services. We felt that a picture of some live steam was necessary in order to cheer up visitors depressed by the gloomy pictures of the Cambridge to St. Ives line on the previous page. May 2007. (Ivor Sutton)
 
Above: Railway rambling, Peruvian style – health and safety regulations do not seem to concern this bunch of backpackers overly much! This is part of the 3 ft. narrow gauge line from Cusco to Machu Picchu, which is considered to be one of the great railway journeys of the world. If you get the bug to explore the past, which is part of what railway rambling is all about, there is no telling where you will end up. September 2007. (Ivor Sutton)
  
Above: One of the 'backpacker' trains to Machu Picchu. These are designed for 'adventure passengers or for those seeking comfort and security, without all the frills' (Peru Rail). By contrast, the luxury train to Machu Picchu, the Hiram Bingham (named after the American historian who 're-discovered' Machu Picchu in 1911), is so luxurious that it would do the old Pullman company proud. The journey from Cusco to Machu Picchu takes 3½ hours. There are no roads to this ancient site, and helicopter visits have been suspended indefinitely, so the train is the only way to get there. September 2007. (Ivor Sutton)
  
Above: Machu Picchu, the destination of the Hiram Bingham and local 'backpacker' trains. The 'lost city of the Incas' (as Bingham called it) is situated at 7,970 ft. above sea level on a mountain ridge. It was built in about 1450 and abandoned less than a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish invasion, although its remote location prevented the Spanish from finding and destroying it. The buildings are made of polished dry stone, a technique whereby building stones are cut finely and assembled without mortar. The workmanship is so good that often not even a knife can be slid between the blocks. Machu Picchu was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1983. September 2007. (Ivor Sutton)