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Santa Season
This season's Santa Trains have been seeing steady passenger figures so far, but these will undoubtedly pick up as we get close to Christmas. A big thank you to all who helped with the train running, and particularly to our Santas, fairies and elves. A special thank you to Dave Oughtibridge, who fitted several big leisure batteries to the coaches, resulting in the Santa trains being 90% lit.
All steamed up!
Holywell
A suggestion
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Carriage & Wagon News
The old Mark 1 sleeper is to go for £5,000. No, we haven't sold it, that's what it will cost to scrap it. This is because of the need to remove asbestos; it could have cost twice that much, but for the intervention of the C&W manager. The RBR has been sold to the North Norfolk Railway for £3,000. It will be restored at a cost of £25,000 to £40,000, using paid workers. They have been given European funding for the creation of employment. Work is almost finished on the conversion of the old store on the BSOT to accommodation for wheelchair users and their helpers. The seats are some that were taken out of old Scotrail 303's at Immingham in the pouring rain. The painting is almost complete and it is hoped to lay new flooring, pending funding. Work on No.9 coach is approaching completion. The C&W Dept are grateful to Mike Froud for his excellent job of painting the exterior, and all 32 seats have been reupholstered, complete with armrests and sides; in all 150 yards of fabric was used. Wendy and Chris are testing the brakes. No.7 is now back in traffic, and when No.9 is back in service this will leave only No.4 and No.5 out of service pending a repaint. This represents splendid progress over the last four or five years. The work will enhance the enjoyment of our visitors. This is in spite of a history of underfunding and the need to build up a stock of spares for the department. |
Although C&W news dominates this issue, the other departments are steadily working on various
projects detailed in previous issues. Although in terms of traffic the coming winter months are
slack, there is always plenty of work to do on routine maintenance and restoration behind the
scenes. More news next issue.
Loss of staff member
Wanted
More about the recent request for cleaning rags for the Loco dept. Mike Froud thinks that the request should have read, "...no bras and knickers unless occupied, in which case crew members may be tempted to try it on!!" I leave that for the readership to decide.
Editor: Lesley J Bird
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