Sorry I haven’t been on here much recently but I’ve been quite busy with other things, one of which I though some of you might find interesting.

I think recently I have found myself missing the chat/banter/comradeship of a ship’s engine room, which has always been an integral part of my life.  Recently someone pointed me in the direction of a local privately owned light railway, which was looking for volunteers.  I went along and had a chat with the chap who owns the place and started to go along to the regular Saturday meetings, whereby anything and everything that needs doing gets attended to.  The gauge is 10 1/4, so quite big and the track is over a mile and a half if you do the outside loop, the inside loop and the station loop.  Its just like being back in a ship’s workshop in many respects with repairs and maintenance being required but then we also open up to the public for around six times throughout the summer months.  This entails getting steam locos ready, a couple of hour’s job and then testing them for a couple of hours before opening the gates and letting the public in for a couple of hours.  I am now learning the craft of becoming a Railway Steam Locomotive Engineman, which does contain some areas that I already have experience with, such as the workings of a steam cylinder and valves, combustion and lubrication, etc. so I do have a bit of a head start.

I also take advantage of every opportunity to drive any steam loco that may be available to start to become familiar with the demands of driving a steam train.  Everything is pretty much as it is full size so looking after the fire, water level, signals etc. are all a part of it.  I also get to get my hands very dirty and spend some time in a workshop so I really do enjoy it.

Anyone interested can see a video here of the entire circuit:

And this is me getting to grips with it: