Locos ready to go! 

Hi Everyone

So at last we have some lovely sunshine to herald the arrival of Spring, the daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses are out and the trees and hedges are starting to come to life after their Winter slumber .We have not been slumbering though, and have been quite busy since our last post. We have installed the extra sidings down at the carriage shed using the plastic sleepered track and points that came from the Parklands Railway, now sadly no more, which is a useful addition that we are very pleased with.

 

We are pleased that young Thomas has achieved his Bronze Award under the Seven and A Quarter Society’s Proficiency Scheme. 

There has been much discussion regarding a proposal to install a layby loop between the station and the carriage sidings to allow locos to pull off the main line to replenish water, coal and steam etc, and our knowledgeable electrical and computer ‘experts’ Peter, Kevin and Keith have come up with a workable signalling scheme for controlling entry and exit to and from the loop….watch this space!

All the station fencing, and seats have been cleaned down and repainted/stained and are now back in position.

We have also started to carry out the annual maintenance of our stock with the Shay going well, and ‘Isabel,’ ‘Bronwyn’, ‘Prospero’ and ‘Hercules’ all checked over. It is hoped to steam up ‘Hercules’ and ‘Bronwyn’ this weekend. Then we will check the coaches and ‘Viceroy’ , ‘Chieftain’ , and the 08…….

 

                                                                    Brian B checking  ‘Hercules’

On Saturday 22nd, we had a gathering of friends to commemorate the sad passing recently of two of the ALR members, Ray King and Dave Brackenbury (Brackers). Ray didn’t want a crematorium service but wanted his ashes to be cast out at sea, and so it has been arranged for the local inshore lifeboat at  Sea Palling to do this. He also wanted there to be a ‘party’  for his friends to say goodbye and that is what we did on Saturday. There were some 20 people there and although it was a bit sad, it was a pleasant occasion with cakes and nibbles to enjoy whilst remembering  memories of Ray and Dave, who both made great contributions to the sucess of the ALR.

 

‘                                                         Chieftain having a run with a train in the wet !!!

Shame the weather turned damp so not many train rides were had !! Hey ho this is England !