We are spending today preserving yesterday, so you can enjoy it tomorrow.
This Saturday 27th November sees the start of the 2021 Santa services.
Always a fun time on the railway. So to kick it off here are a few pics of Santa trains gone by. Some pics are better than others but including them all anyway!!
Over the years I have lost count of the number of people who would comment every autumn that except for the Santa trains the railway was dead in late autumn & winter.
This of course is far from the truth. In both November and January we are running services, yes it’s just the railcar but it’s still a service and the Swedish railcar is popular with many visitors. Not to mention we have some steam driver experience days.
But that’s not all that will be going on. Remember that it’s a busy period in the office with plans for next year. As well as enquiries and the normal work that has to be done to keep the railway running through the year.
No doubt down in the shed people will be working away at both routine maintenance as well as rebuilds etc.
The cafe will be open at weekends and Wednesdays, which hopefully will encourage people to visit on non-running days and help with both turnover and profit for the railway in the process.
Around the railway there will be maintenance along the line, the civils will no doubt be out and about making sure that the line is clear and safe for the trains that will use it.
As usual the monthly electronic newsletter for working members will be prepared and sent out on the 1st of the month.
So next time somebody says that the railway is dead in the winter point out those working members and paid staff that will be working to make sure that we have a safe, busy and profitable railway in the coming year.
On Remembrance Sunday in 2018 92 Squadron is framed by mother nature on Castor bank complete with red poppy wreath on the smokebox to 100 years since the end of the First World War.
Visiting Jubilee 45596 Bahamas sits in the running shed at Wansford as the loco crew check the board during a evening photo shoot. August 2021
When we look back at previous years we tend to remember the special events, Thomas weekends and galas etc.
We tend to forget for want of a better description “The normal weekends.” Where everything just flows. When the trains run on time, the sun shines and we have some really nice visitors.
See you’re remembering some now. The weekends where you sit down on a Sunday afternoon and think to yourself. I enjoyed that!
You may find when you think back that there are more normal weekends than you thought there were.
These weekends are important to the railway as they bring in revenue and more importantly Profit!
So when you realise it’s just a normal weekend, enjoy it, after all enjoying volunteering at the railway is what it’s all about.
I would like to dedicate this photo to former NVR driver and Steam inspector Peter Richardson who sadly passed away last month. A4 60009 Union of South Africa opens up at Longueville Junction during a photo charter in September 2017 with Peter Richardson at the controls.
Jason Isaac
With all the focus on Bahamas you may have missed this today.
Mayflower passing through Peterborough.
This weekend saw the locomotive Bahamas running on the line.
Here are four pictures of the locomotive kindly sent to me by Thomas Woolley.
Quick post of the Driver Experience today.
Bahamas taking on Water at Peterborough Nene Valley.
