Steam Aid - Didcot Railway Centre 12th May 2012

Or even a coach or two (ECS, obviously) for more weight? :lol:

 

I'll be there setting it up tomorrow with some of the others and will see what they let me get away with.

 

Excellent to hear event organisers so keen to listen to suggestions!

 

Hi All,

The latest on Steam Aid is as follows:

The signallers will be entertaining visitors in their beautifully restored Radstock Signalbox and allowing people to get involved.

The superb recreation of the broad gauge locomotive Firefly will be in operation (usual subject to availability clause here of course) and available for rides.

BOTH panniers will now be in operation after a kind offer by 3650's owner Brian Thompson and his maintenance crew That includes the great Nat. pres. Pannier Man (see above clause!).

Tours of the locomotive works will now be supplemented by guided tours by volunteers of the foot plates of Castle No. 5051 Earl Bathurst and Hall No. 5900 Hinderton Hall.

There has been rumblings in the grape vine about the appearance of a certain member of GWS council and a Whickham Trolley on occasion for rides in our centre sidings area too...

If that and the opportunity to drive some seriously historic heavy metal in charge of freight and to give to two very worthy causes*isn't enough to drag you out of bed on Saturday to visit that little corner of an Oxfordshire field that is forever GWR then I don't know what is!

See you all there!

All the best,

Team 4079

PS: I will be the one in the black hat doing tours of the loco works so stop by and say hello!

 

Hell of a long shot, but I don't suppose there's any chance of the 08 being available for cab rides/brake van rides/whatever else? Even if it's just a few yards up and down one of the sidings it'd be a great bonus!

 

Afraid not, the 08 is a little poorly at the moment

 

Now that is very exciting. You will have two signalmen visiting from the SVR who will be very keen to have a looksee! I have visited Didcot many times but, by chance, never when the 'boxes have been open.

 

That'll teach me to read it properly. There was I thinking normal 10:30 opening time, equals leisurely lie in (due to no kids to dive on me at 6:30am despite being a weekend!) before catching the 9:45 train to be there as it opens. Best find some different train times then and find a few more fivers!

 

Ah, shame. Still, plenty of fivers to be spent nonetheless

 

You lot at Didcot deserve great praise for this event, looks like an 0500 ex Bury departure to get there for 9, but wow it sure will be worth it. I came 3 times last year and was not once dissapointed. Super show for the Blue King, two Kings and Tonado and the railmotor, superb events, you guys, and gals, have been heartily recomended since, keep it up and lets hope plenty of money is raised.

 

Late night bump from the C&W Dept. Family Saloon 2511 will be open & its owner on hand to tell its story. In a nutshell, it became 10 River Gardens, Purley-on-Thames in 1937 and its occupants did very little by way of modification, so it's a bit of a time capsule. Subject to stewarding, we're hoping to have guided tours of the Carriage Shed and allowing access to Special Saloon Car 9002. I roped in a member of the GW Trust last weekend, failing that I'll be around & do what I can. The Railmotor **might** be open for inspection as well. We're not allowing people into the depths of the stock shed as this makes our insurers all worried & that... However... If there's something specific that someone wants to look at (e.g. the Dreadnought), come & find me and we'll see what occurs. Pete S.

 

Just back from an excellent day out. Had at least one go on all 3, plus the signal box, plus the works tour - not going to add up what I spent!

Driving was great fun - however it was also great to have the chance (being unhindered by the kids!) to spend time in the company of some really nice people. Probably shouldn't name names as that way you miss out the ones whose name you didn't catch, but hopefully they will understand that they are included alongside Kevin, Drew, Maurice, Ann, Alex, Brian and I think it was Pete at the back of the carriage shed. Thanks guys - its not unnoticed that you gave up your day for us to have fun even if it was for a good cause.

Dave.

 

Not long got back from, without a doubt, the best day that I have ever had on the preservation scene outside of volunteering. Anyone who didn't make it - sorry, you missed out.

Had a chance to drive all three locos a good few times, have a go in both Signal boxes (many thanks to Didcot's webmaster who was able to arrange a special visit to Frome Mineral Junction), and enjoy a gorgeous sunny day in good company having a bit of banter with the exceptionally friendly volunteers. Particular thanks go to Kevin and his Mate on 3650 and generally the staff to be found on the branch - 3738's crew, the lady and gentleman guards on the branch goods, and the lady on the exchange shed platform, it all made for a really excellent day out.

The crews on 5322 were good fun as well, very ready to let people enjoy their time on the engine. It was especially exciting for me as someone particularly interested in the ROD of the Great War. She was making a cracking sound all day! I especially enjoyed my second go on her near the end of the day...

'Really open her up, I want to break up the fire a bit!'

'ok...*second valve* BOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFFBOFF!!!'

Even if I did then manage to stop short of the platform...

As a concept, this was I thought absolutely brilliant; so different, and so much better in many ways, than a more typical gala day. In one sense it was a shame that it did not seem too well patronised, but in another this meant that it worked very well, the centre and staff were never swamped and everyone was able to have a great time.

I certainly hope that similar days will be held in the future - you may practically guarantee my presence! Thank you all very, very much indeed.

 

A really top day out yesterday - pleasantly surprised with so many locos outside of the shed, and the driver-for-a-fiver trips were really good fun; I've added some photos to the start of here:
New Photos - a set on Flickr

Well done to the organisers, hope you raised lots of money for the charities....

Alisdair

 

Very enjoyable visit yesterday. Was only able to stop for 4 hours, which flew past. I arrived about 1020, and was driving 5322 within about 10 mins! Enjoyed driving both panniers. My first 00 gauge model was one in 1973. The sheer size of the broad gauge rolling stock was impressive when riding on it.
The workshop tour was very humbling to someone with no engineering skills at all! Good luck with the exciting projects in there.
It didn't seem too busy while I was there. I hope they made as much money as they hoped to. Thanks to all who made it possible, especially the crew on 3650, who were pleasantly mad

 

To echo the above, great day, though looked somewhat underpatronised - I hope those who were there all had lots of goes! Particular thanks to the blokes on 5322 around lunch time for their sporting attitude - think it's fair to say that's the first time I've ever been encouraged to give a loco more welly! :lol:

 

I can only echo the sentiments of everyone else, Pannier man great to meet you, I was your first one in the morning, will try and do some pictures tomorrow. All the staff were so friendly and us Northerners are so appreciative of you gals n guys letting us stay for a while as you ahd your deserved play later in the evening.

We were very tired after our18 hr day but we so so enjoyed it, as others have said you have set the benchmark for others.

Now then about these rumours of the mogul staying in br black ?

 

You've got that right, they were an absolute scream!

 

Firstly I'd like to say thanks to everyone from here that came and supported the event. It was great to meet you all and thanks for the wonderful feed back.

The abacus at Didcot has not come to a final rest yet, so I'm still not sure how much we raised. I expect Mr 4079 himself will report on it later.

The event was arranged by the lifting shop crew + Mr 4079, with the GWS Councils approval and the help of our Ops Manager and a few others, in just over a month. Imagine what we could do if we planned it with more notice and better publicity!
I think the limited publicity made the event even better for those that did come, as it gave us much more time to spend with people than having a "production line" driving experience.
I wouldn't mind having another go (with hindsight) where we could plan it in to the Didcot calender to avoid galas etc, and for a full weekend. Lets see what we can do next time!

Again, thanks to all those that came.

Pannier Man. (feeling pleasantly Mad) :lalala: