The Narrow Gauge Gathering is an annual event attended by many members of staff and volunteers from a number of the major narrow gauge railways in the British Isles. The smallest of these are 15" gauge (including the Ravenglass & Eskdale, Cumbria and the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch, Kent), while the largest is 3’ gauge, this being the Isle of Man Steam Railway. A large contingent of visitors also comes from the many popular "Great Little Trains of Wales", including the historic Talyllyn and Ffestiniog Railways.

Each year a different railway hosts the event, and this year it was once again the turn of "La’al Ratty" at Ravenglass. Over 100 people were in attendance, making it one of the busiest gatherings for many years, and indeed some people questioned whether there would be 100 beds in the Ravenglass area to sleep them all!

Without a doubt, one of the main attractions for the visitors was the rare pairing of two very significant 15" gauge locomotives – Ravenglass museum resident Synolda, built in 1912 by renowned model-maker WJ Bassett-Lowke, and newly-restored Count Louis, currently operating at the Evesham Valley Railway, which was built to the same design in 1924. However, they are by no means identical! Indeed, Count Louis did not even run at Ravenglass under her proper name during the course of the weekend – instead, she masqueraded as Synolda’s long-scrapped twin, Sans Pareil, the locomotive that started running trains out of Ravenglass in August 1915, after the line was reopened as the "Smallest Public Railway in the World".

The two "Atlantic" locomotives (so-named because of their wheel configuration of 4-4-2) worked together on two special trains on Saturday November 7, hauling four coaches over the whole length of the line. The journey was very nostalgic, as passengers were able to experience what it would have been like in the 1910s and 1920s, when a locomotive identical to Synolda and Count Louis was once at the forefront of passenger-carrying service between Ravenglass and Boot.

Photographs by Nicole Taylor.

Enthusiasts gather in the steam	Synolda & Count Louis in Harness together
Taking a bend	Under the bridge