All aboard as railway gears up for its first beer festival

The Buzzrail Ale Trail is being held on Saturday, May 16.

There will be a chance for people to visit the Engine Shed bar at Pages Park and the Bottom Yard Beer Hall at Stonehenge Works.

And in the middle, visit the Clay Pipe public house, adjacent to the line on Apennine Way, with its own temporary station.

There are more than 20 real ales and ciders to sample, with hot andcold food at all three venues.

Each bar will feature a unique selection of ales.

As this is on a Saturday, Arriva local bus D1 will be running regularly to Page’s Park from the mainline station, canal and town centre, so there is no need to drive.

Activities for the festival include a re-enacted Train Holdup from the Wild West, live music, a bouncy castle, a craft shop designed to appeal to those keen on other things than railways and, of course, our unique historic collection of narrow gauge locomotives and rolling stock.

Local brewer, the Leighton Buzzard Brewery is sponsoring the Railway’s appeal for funds for a new station building at its Pages Park terminus with a donation for every cask of Narrow Gauge Ale sold.

That project recently passed a major milestone with the news that the double your money appeal had reached £50,000 thus generating a further £50,000 from an anonymous benefactor.

A further £90,000 has still to be raised.

The Leighton Buzzard Railway is based at Page’s Park, Leighton Buzzard, and the line runs to Stonehenge Works next to the sand quarries, which the original industrial railway was built to serve. For further information visit www.buzzrail.co.uk.

The event sees the first train run at 10.40am and finishes at 5.30pm.