Heads up once and a life 2ft6/2ft Event in England Oct.2026

[Thor Windbergs]

In case any of you are interested in visiting the narrow gauge mecca in England here is your official shot over the bow...

just as it is extremely difficult for us in Europe to make a trip to see Ed Dickens (a former coworker of mine on the D&S) in the Big Boy as the schedule is published much too short notice to find affordable flights and accommodations.

Now you have no excuse, and it is even in a language you understand, narrow gauge english!

The International Field Railway Meeting is held every year in October, after museums and tourist trains close for the year. The tradition was started by our premier German 60cm, "Frankfurter FieldRy Museum"  https://www.feldbahn-ffm.de/ in 1991 because we wanted to meet, visit and enjoy other museums, but everyone is busy during the running season. It has been held at least 3 times in Frankfurt, many times in Germany, multiple times in Holland, Romania, Switzerland, France as well as Lettland, Litauen, Poland and Austria.

I have been a member in Frankfurt since 1994, and after working in Tourist railways and preservation groups in US, Brazil and Germany, I have come to appreciate the field railway groups, basically because no one can earn money working on field railways, everyone participates out of interest and passion. This performed by a diverse group of preservationists, being engineers, lawyers, technical workers, police, whatever, it is a hobby, a passion. And they do amazing things with this energy.

The Frankfurter Field Ry Museum has been a cornerstone of the field railway tourist museums in Germany and Europe. We have twinned ourself of another cornerstone organization in England, the Moseley Railway Trust. https://avlr.org.uk/moseley-railway-trust It has long been a wish of participants of IFTs, that one day we get off the continent onto "the island". Moseley made a presentation and applied for the honor and extremely time consuming Task at the 32nd IFT in Denmark 2024 to host the IFT in 2026. It was cheered and almost unanimously accepted by the participants.

At this years 33rd IFT in German, Simon from Moseley presented their planing for the IFT at the Moseley Trust in probably the 2nd weekend of October 2026. The event is usually 3 days but most attendees have extended programs either before or after.

Registration for the event will start via their website in March 2026, the 3 day event with some meals, presentations, tours and such will cost only around 120 pounds. Travel must be arranged separately and there will be recommendations for accommodations.

They will organize tours and visits to some narrow gauge preservation railroads and exclusive train trips to places like, but not limited to:
West Lancashire Light Railway https://www.westlancsrailway.org/
Amerton Railway https://amertonrailway.co.uk/
Statfold Narrow Gauge Museum Trust https://statfold.com/railway/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statfold_Barn_Railway
and there own Apedale Valley Light Railway https://avlr.org.uk/

And Moseley has promised to put us in connection with all their friends and contacts as we tour, before or after the IFT as many of us will be visiting the:
The Ffestiniog and Welsh Highlands Ry.  https://www.festrail.co.uk/
Vale of Rheidol Railway https://vor.wales/
And certainly last but not least the 2ft Baldwin mecca
Brecon Mountain Railway https://www.bmr.wales/
With the last pictures https://www.bmr.wales/bmr-locomotives/ showing the copy of SRRL, No.10.(Sn44231) with the boiler sitting on the complete running gear.

Alone on the museums/ railways listed you will see upwards of 400 locomotives. This is going to be a narrow minded orgasm, private trains, private access outside of tourist times, staff and friends with time to shoot the shit, trade stories and make new connections and friends for life. This is not an expensive 5000 dollar tour, these are all the working, retired or normal railfans from across Europe traveling together, on the cheap to see and experience as much as possible. If you ever needed an excuse to get out of Dodge City, Kansas this is it. After this you can contently go to narrow gauge heaven...

I am not official, but an unofficial cultural bridge builder. You may contact me view Facebook, LinkedIn, Email or Text for help, when I know something I will immediately share. Start saving your pennies, quarters and dollars.

Below I am sharing links to all of my pictures from the last 3 International Field Ry Meets. Be nice don't abuse it. No filter, just raw technical narrow gauge foaming. But you should be able to feel the fun and camaraderie, we need lots of that these days.

Warm regards
Thor

33rd International Field Ry Meet, in Germany Oct. 2025 https://photos.app.goo.gl/KRuhUenF3ekPDn6F6
32nd IFT, HVB Denmark, Oct.2024 https://photos.app.goo.gl/xJwsr3KHyaN22eXb8
31st-Part1, IFT-FFM Frankfurt,Germany Oct.2023 https://photos.app.goo.gl/htkn9uidq2hLVHmU7
31st-Part2, IFT-FGF Wezlar,Germany Oct.2023  https://photos.app.goo.gl/c3hKLcy7N31nysvm8
https://www.feldbahn-ffm.de/ift-vergangene-treffen/