Commitment

Just wondering what the most extreme examples of commitment to your railway/locomotive/vehicle etc have been.

A group of four us at Tanfield signed out at 2.30am today after a mammoth carriage painting session to get our Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway brake third ready for the gala this weekend.

Naturally we were questioning our sanity and would be intrigued to know if others are just as committed/stupid! I'm sure that the stupidity is likely to continue as we get closer to Friday, still at least 69023 and Sir Berkeley are now with us and Sir Cecil A. Cochrane has returned from its holidays at Beamish.

 

ive been out at half four in the morning to get faults done before running and commisionings as late as 2 in the morning when darley dale 2 train was commisioned.

normally one or two days a week at either of the two lines i volunteer at.

the life of an s and t engineer and an extremely understanding wife helps

 

I have a lot of admiration for the volunteers on those lines where nine day galas have been held. The ones that spring immediately to mind are the G/WR and Didcot "GWR 175" galas this year, and SSS2 at Llangollen last year. Without the commitment and dedication of the volunteers involved, these mega events would not have happened.

 

Although most of the construction work on Bridge 30 on the NYMR was carried out by contractors there was a lot of support from the staff & volunteer pway crews to carry out associated work in the worst winter weather for many years at a very remote location . Likewise, in addition to the contractors, volunteers put in a huge amount of work rebuilding the SVR after the disasters that befell them. As a carriage restorer myself, and one who has spent very late nights trying to get things finished against a deadline, I think the original poster is on dodgy ground comparing an occasional late night to the often need for overnight working by Pway and S & T departments in particular!

 

SSS1 painting a coach in the dark outside the night before the event, as it was in the wrong colour. Wasn't me personally but I thought the guys who did were completely bonkers (I soon found out they were).

SSS2 in general, there was the week before with the prep and then the actual week itself plus the 2/3 days tidy up after. Not forgetting the whole planning which started xmas 2007, with a meeting in Llangollen Tea Rooms where we showed our plan to the entire railway.

Will begin all again with SSS3, how we find the time to work I'll never know!

 

My wife thinks anyone who gets up before 6am to see a lump of metal eject steam from it is mad.

 

We probably are.

 

getting up at 4am to light up for the days services! madness

 

5 day a week job doing 10 hours hard labour getting up at 4 in the morning signing on at 6am at the railway not finishing till the following mornin at 2am then waiting round quick snooze and back at 6.30 and then another 5 days of 10 hours...

 

Sometimes night photo charters can be excellent "commitments"!

Being quite young and an enthusiastic photographer myself - I didn't mind standing outdoors in the ice into the small hours in February; but several others (enlisted to move stock around) did!