Tanat Valley Opening

Saturday 7th November saw myself and family journey over to the Welsh borders to find a hidden gem of a railway, the Tanat Valley Railway's Nantmawr branch. The small group of members of the TVR have spent several years clearing and rediscovering the quarry branch and have finally reached the point where they could operate their first trains. John Allman's Beyer Peacock was doing the honours and, not only was this the first steam on the branch for over 40 years but it was thought to be the first passenger trains ever! The first train was despatched over the 600yds so far operable to the strains of the Porth-y-waen Brass Band and welcomed back by a lone piper - perhaps he was responsible for the Welsh mist later in the day that failed to dampen the spirits of the small band of people who were responsible for bringing the line back to life. It's a great little line and, although lacking in facillities, the enthusiasm of the group is quite infectious and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was great to be able to help them celebrate their achievements and I look forward to returning again and having a longer run when they have more of the branch cleared and operable.
If you have a free day between now and the first weekend in December please pay them a visit and if you want to see the potential of the delightful little valley have a look on YouTube where there is already some footage.

Season End

The 2009 season has now closed, other than the Santa trains in December, and it ended on the 31st October with a Driver Experience which saw 4 'victims' try their hands with Meaford No.2 under the guidance of myself and Bob Gibbens. An interesting range of candidates this time from a young woman (in her 30's I'd guess but bet I get shot down for that!) to a gent in his 80's. All had a good time and professed themselves very happy with the day, as did their families who had forked out for the day. The loco was then handed over to Dennis Labram and Rob Mitchell who worked the final RAT of the year, complete with haloween theme which was well patronised including a group from the South Cheshire Caravan club who were having a small rally on the field for the weekend and braving the torrential downpour and high winds of Saturday night/Sunday morning, which kept me awake as well!
It will soon be the first of the Santa trains and Val Chapman is trying to co-ordinate the on train roster for them, if you can help out, even if only for a few hours one day, please contact her via the railway.

Rolling on.....

Well the Traction Engine weekend has been and gone and was well attended with 10 engines there and 3 miniatures, plus a vintage bus and some classic cars and Land Rovers. Everyone had a fun time and much beer was consumed (when did 2.30am get invented?). There were some sore heads on Sunday morning but all were in good spirits and the public came aplenty so hopefully everyone was happy. This event is one of the best of the year with a lovely relaxed atmosphere and a very low cost to the railway to put on thanks to the good will of all the people who brought exhibits. I didn't realise though that the only reason to have kids was to supply scale drivers for the miniature locos, but it seems that's just what Izaak was for on Sunday as the photo shows!

Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah

Just to show the sort of things that go on at the railway, here's a little you tube clip from the Victorian Weekend held over the August bank holiday weekend.

Flywheels and Beer

Looking forward to the Traction Engine Steam Party at the railway on 26th and 27th September and hopefully we will have a reasonable turn out of engines, despite the rescheduled rally at Chelford. This year's will certainly not be as large as last year's which was a one off due to the Anniversary of the North Staffordshire and Cheshire club and their corresponding road run. However it will have the usual beer festival in the bar and a short road run to another local hostelry on the Saturday afternoon. It is also intended to steam one of our locos as usual for the road guys to try their hand at driving without steering! It is always a relaxed atmosphere at the gathering and anyone who comes along will be very welcome. The photo shows a few of the engines at last year's event.

Isn't paint expensive!

A quick post to update on progress with my pet project, Avonside 1563, also known as Millom but from now on to be known as John Paton. The last few weeks has seen quite a lot of activity taking place on the frames of the loco, starting with jacking up the frames off the wheels. The axleboxes were then taken off for inspection and a bit of head scratching over the visible wear on the brasses. Whilst this was going on the frames were attacked with wire wheels and coarse sanding disks and then given a liberal coat of Wickes Red Oxide which, although it's very reasonable price, is a very good primer. However quite a lot more money exchanged hands for an order of Craftsmaster Indian Red brushing enamel and undercoat for the frames and, from the same source, some Mid Brunswick Green and it's undercoat for the upperworks, all of which set us back a pretty penny! Taking great care not to spill any the outside frames have had 3 undercoats and one topcoat, and very smart they now look as the photo shows. Whilst this was going on Matt also had a fit of the mads and removed the hodbarrow addition to the cab back, so the open backed cab plan is now taking shape. Having done that we have looked at what remains and it appears there is more metal to take off yet to bring it down to a suitable height. We will have to see!

Satisfied customers?

I was just browsing one of the online forums I subscribe to (and yes I should really be working but everyone is allowed a coffee break... aren't they?) and came across a thread that linked to an blog where the blogger had a very bad experience of customer care on another preserved railway. Now I'm not suggesting that we have any problems in that front, far from it we are one of the more friendly railways. But I do think it is a timely reminder that, even though we are all volunteers, it is important to remember that Joe Public doesn't necessarily understand that and in their eyes we are 'staff'. In the case of the blogger two unrelated incidents in the same day completely tarnished his view of the line in question and he will probably not recommend a visit there to his friends.
Here's a link to the blog in question, let that be a lesson to us all!