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Latest News: Archive
May 2007
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Latest News: Archive
May 2007
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The Mid-Norfolk Railway was visited by Battle of Britain class locomotive 34067 "Tangmere" over the May bank holiday weekend. On the Saturday, a railtour left Dereham for London, steam-hauled all the way, with a 13-coach train almost full. The following day, the loco was hauling all our service trains, with passenger numbers much higher than normal for this time of year.
The railway's volunteer staff rose to the occasion magnificently, including staying up late into the night to fix some technical problems with the loco in time for it to haul another railtour out of Norwich the following day. An impressive performance.
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Tangmere at Garvestone and Dereham. 6th May 2007. Photos: Alan Cooper and Owen Stratford |
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By Richard Cullen and Gary Hall.
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Replacing the platform sign at County School. 13th May 2007. Photo: Richard Cullen |
Over the last two weeks Geoffrey has completely rebuilt the two large station signs on the island platform. With restoration now complete, both signs have been returned to the site.
Despite bad weather, the northernmost sign has been returned to its original posts. One of the replacement rail posts for the larger southern board has also been erected, and awaits final painting (and its partner) before the sign can be refitted.
The GER display coach is now being fitted out with its WW2 themed displays. This display will show how railways, especially the Mid-Norfolk Railway, helped win the World Wars. Once the photographic and item displays are completed, an N-gauge diorama will also be installed. A start has been made on gathering materials for this and a temporary model railway display set up.
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Digging out the foundations of County School Signal Box. 27th May 2007. Photo: Ray Jordan |
A member of the County School Area Group financed a day with a JCB, which arrived just before 8am and was well into the swing of things within minutes. A trench was dug from the bottom of the platform all the way to the Signal box footings and then on to the P-Way hut. With Geoffrey and Ray assembling the ducting, Eileen became road guard while the JCB moved several tons of earth from the meadow to backfill the wall that we constructed by the level crossing in order to widen the foot path in this critical area. Chris and Tony with rakes and spades gently manoeuvred the soil up to the wall to prevent damage. They also removed the old fence along the track side and diverted the footpath down to its new location.
The JCB returned north of the station to fill in the trench. Again he moved tonnes of earth to widen and level the area between the track and the orchard. He then took time just before leaving to dig out the locking frame pit.
By Owen Stratford and Trevor Brackpool.
Today saw us heading off to Crownthorpe to complete the sleeper digging-out. Several had been dug out during the week, thanks to Phil and Roland, and so there were 15 remaining. We caught the train and dug these out, along with a couple of extras that had been identified a few hundred yards further towards Wymondham. This task was completed with time to spare and so we then caught the second train back to Hardingham. Once there we made a start on the next section to be hit. We started again working north through the platform and at the end of the day 30 had been dug out.
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Platform 2 starter at Dereham. 6th May 2007. Photo: Owen Stratford |
We had a Signalling day today. Roland had delivered back to the railway a restored spectacle plate for the miniature arm that is to go on the Up Starter at the north end of the station. We started the day by fitting the second staging onto the lower half of the signal. This caused a fair amount of trouble and the collars that go round the post had to be ground down several times to get it all to fit. We then fitted the bearing onto the post in the correct location, before attaching the spectacle plate, back blinder and arm. Finally some other minor outstanding works were completed, including transferring the lamp onto the top lamp bracket. All of this was carried out with Tangmere visiting the railway, so we had several breaks in order to let the loco run round. The day was completed with a trip down to Wymondham behind the steam engine.
P Way were digging out sleepers again. Favourable ground conditions enabled the gang to continue north of Hardingham and complete 52 to reach Thuxton before catching the last train home.