Sunday 13 January 2013

Unglamorous

With the excitement of the 2012 Santa campaign behind us, the team of volunteers are Apedale have settled not into hibernation - tempting as that may be - but into the unglamorous but very necessary programme of jobs which are necessary to sustain and improve the site. So, for example, works recently in progress have included: Moving a fence. Machining parts for the valve gear on the ex-Ghana Hudswell Clarke steam loco. Manufacturing joggled fishplates. And this weekend's big push - re-organising and de-junking the stores area in the Workshops. Now, we would be the first to agree that re-organising the Stores is never going to set the pulses racing for most railway people. But this and all the other winter works are vital tasks, and it is a mark of the quality of the team at Apedale that people turn out and work willingly on these unglamourous tasks just as much as when the steam trains are running. It has also to be admitted that re-organising the stores is not the most photogenic activity in the world - so you can have a nice photos of some steam trains just to make up. If you're not feeling glamorous, get in touch here. If pink feather boas and sparkly dresses are more your thing, also get in touch. Diversity is important.