Hi guys
Well Saturday i had a decision to make, go to a private miniature railway in farnham and play trains there or go to Cockcrow with the possibilty of meeting Stewart Palmer, For those who dont know its the managing director of South West Trains, well i chose the latter, my dad (Works for SWT those who dont know) Had been on Stewarts Table at my dads 25 year award thingy, there were also some other managers around from SWT, Peter Brooks?? i think, hes operations manager, the one that got me a cab ride anyway lol. I steamed Alan William's engine for him becasue he was controller and i need a pilot well to over come this me and my dad double headed!!! we had some rakes of 3 coaches out and to make it more worth while double heading we got another 2 coaches out to make up a 5 car rake, As we reveresed onto the train and coupled up, Stewart took his seat at the front of the train, My dad was leading engine and i was stuck in the middle lol, Dad then introduced me to Stewart, hes such a nice bloke, we had a nice chat about steam locos in general, then with the Mayor of Runnymead also on board we were ready to depart. Me and dad prepared the engines ready for the off, while doing this i passed some remark to dad with Stewart in ear shot about not having penalty fares on out railway, then dad remark yer and guys (Peter and Stewart) Remember this is a mobile free zone please keep noise to a minimum, to which they both chuckled, we were soon off, we were on a Gladesman run meaning we did ever bit of the railway, it was great to think that i was lucky enough to take the MD of SWT some other Big manager guys and the Mayor of Runnymead for a trip round the railway, as we coasted down the bank, Stewart passed the comment about a running brake test lol, i said dont worry we have it all under control lol, soon we were attacking the first climb and boy wat a Noise a Bullied pacific and U Class can make, it was awesome, we chattered to the top and were soon coasting into the station, on approach to the station we passed another train full of norms lol. We were soon on our way to cockcrow hill, on approach to the signal box the signalman leaned out and said of its double trouble trowers dad just looked at me and laughed, off we trotted round Green lane Loop, on the approach to green lane platform is the site where the ashes of a former member are scattered with a short toot on the whistle to let him know we were to never forget him! on the return we shot through the tunnel and stormed up the bank once again, Stewart palmer remarked that his trains were a dam site cleaner lol, and remark that i had proper railway dirt on me lol, we ran down the spur holding a train up lol, we then came back round to everglades and while running into the platform i noticed the feather on the signal wasnt lit so we stopped and luckily the signal box was next to us, the signalman passed the instruction to proceed as it was showing the Position 4 indicator, so we proceededas we passed under the new viaduct we were about to tackle the steepest part of the railway, dad turned round and said wait until we get onto the hill before we open up, one clear of the points we both opened up and off we went once again making more noise than a 37 at full thrash! as we apprached the top Stewart congratulated us for keeping the train under control, it was a simple run back home, on the last hill my dad said shut off so i did, and we saw wat his engine was really made off, i had to assit over the hump at the top of the hill but other than that his engine did it, onec we had stopped Stewart and the other managers came and said thank you and passed a few remarks to dad about the run in general, the mayor then came along and Greeted us and said thank you for the wonderful ride round, by this time my dad had disappered so i got all the glory lol, he remarked on how smooth the ride was and that the me and dad together make a "dam good pair of drivers", i was like wow lol. i then handed the engine over to John another member of the railway who did another trip on it, i went to speak to Alan about something and he was with the mayor, as i walked into the signal box the mayor remarked about the dirt on my face and alan was like thats normal hes usually dirty after 5 mins down here lol, then some photographer wanted to get our picture i was like whey lol, Stewart then came to bid farewell. later in the day i went off to do some PW work and when i returned the engine i had been on was on another train with my dads engine, this time i was infront
!!!! was a pretty normal trip round, had the mayor on board, it wasnt till we returned that i found out that the people sorting out the planning permission for the new station building were on the train and remarked to Alan Williams about wat a good pair of drivers we were lol, after this trip we disposed of the fire and put the engine to bed, Wat a great day, im glad i went down was really enjoyable to be able to double head with my dad.
Will try and find some pictures, Thanks for reading possbily my longest post on RUK yet!
Stephen!
Well Saturday i had a decision to make, go to a private miniature railway in farnham and play trains there or go to Cockcrow with the possibilty of meeting Stewart Palmer, For those who dont know its the managing director of South West Trains, well i chose the latter, my dad (Works for SWT those who dont know) Had been on Stewarts Table at my dads 25 year award thingy, there were also some other managers around from SWT, Peter Brooks?? i think, hes operations manager, the one that got me a cab ride anyway lol. I steamed Alan William's engine for him becasue he was controller and i need a pilot well to over come this me and my dad double headed!!! we had some rakes of 3 coaches out and to make it more worth while double heading we got another 2 coaches out to make up a 5 car rake, As we reveresed onto the train and coupled up, Stewart took his seat at the front of the train, My dad was leading engine and i was stuck in the middle lol, Dad then introduced me to Stewart, hes such a nice bloke, we had a nice chat about steam locos in general, then with the Mayor of Runnymead also on board we were ready to depart. Me and dad prepared the engines ready for the off, while doing this i passed some remark to dad with Stewart in ear shot about not having penalty fares on out railway, then dad remark yer and guys (Peter and Stewart) Remember this is a mobile free zone please keep noise to a minimum, to which they both chuckled, we were soon off, we were on a Gladesman run meaning we did ever bit of the railway, it was great to think that i was lucky enough to take the MD of SWT some other Big manager guys and the Mayor of Runnymead for a trip round the railway, as we coasted down the bank, Stewart passed the comment about a running brake test lol, i said dont worry we have it all under control lol, soon we were attacking the first climb and boy wat a Noise a Bullied pacific and U Class can make, it was awesome, we chattered to the top and were soon coasting into the station, on approach to the station we passed another train full of norms lol. We were soon on our way to cockcrow hill, on approach to the signal box the signalman leaned out and said of its double trouble trowers dad just looked at me and laughed, off we trotted round Green lane Loop, on the approach to green lane platform is the site where the ashes of a former member are scattered with a short toot on the whistle to let him know we were to never forget him! on the return we shot through the tunnel and stormed up the bank once again, Stewart palmer remarked that his trains were a dam site cleaner lol, and remark that i had proper railway dirt on me lol, we ran down the spur holding a train up lol, we then came back round to everglades and while running into the platform i noticed the feather on the signal wasnt lit so we stopped and luckily the signal box was next to us, the signalman passed the instruction to proceed as it was showing the Position 4 indicator, so we proceededas we passed under the new viaduct we were about to tackle the steepest part of the railway, dad turned round and said wait until we get onto the hill before we open up, one clear of the points we both opened up and off we went once again making more noise than a 37 at full thrash! as we apprached the top Stewart congratulated us for keeping the train under control, it was a simple run back home, on the last hill my dad said shut off so i did, and we saw wat his engine was really made off, i had to assit over the hump at the top of the hill but other than that his engine did it, onec we had stopped Stewart and the other managers came and said thank you and passed a few remarks to dad about the run in general, the mayor then came along and Greeted us and said thank you for the wonderful ride round, by this time my dad had disappered so i got all the glory lol, he remarked on how smooth the ride was and that the me and dad together make a "dam good pair of drivers", i was like wow lol. i then handed the engine over to John another member of the railway who did another trip on it, i went to speak to Alan about something and he was with the mayor, as i walked into the signal box the mayor remarked about the dirt on my face and alan was like thats normal hes usually dirty after 5 mins down here lol, then some photographer wanted to get our picture i was like whey lol, Stewart then came to bid farewell. later in the day i went off to do some PW work and when i returned the engine i had been on was on another train with my dads engine, this time i was infront
!!!! was a pretty normal trip round, had the mayor on board, it wasnt till we returned that i found out that the people sorting out the planning permission for the new station building were on the train and remarked to Alan Williams about wat a good pair of drivers we were lol, after this trip we disposed of the fire and put the engine to bed, Wat a great day, im glad i went down was really enjoyable to be able to double head with my dad.Will try and find some pictures, Thanks for reading possbily my longest post on RUK yet!
Stephen!
