Tiverton Museum: The Tivvy Bumper
On a wet Devon day,my little gang and I set off to Tiverton Museum,with the intention of seeing the famous "Tivvy Bumper".
The affectionately known,"Tivvy Bumper" was one of the GWR designed 1400 Class steam trains,that was intended for branch line work.
Originally introduced in 1932 as the 4800 Class,it was renumbered in 1946.There are four examples of the 1400 Class that have been preserved.1442 of course,1420 that is being done up on the South Devon Railway,1450 that is on the Severn Valley Railway in Shropshire and 1466 that is awaiting an overhaul at the Didcot Railway Centre in Oxfordshire.
There is much of interest in Tiverton museum if you're interested in history as I am.Other than the obvious,I liked the WW1 stuff,the Romans at Bolham and for some reason,the size of the old carts intrigued me and Christine. In fact the size and how things were made and used in the old days,always amazes me and Christine.
After spending a fair while looking at non train stuff,we finally made it to the Tivvy Bumper. The Tivvy Bumper is housed in it's own building and is surrounded by many train related items.You are able to jump aboard 1442 and touch the controls,as well as pull a cord that sounds a recording of the whistle,along with other train noises,something that my children couldn't get enough of doing.