Well, folks, that was Easter 2017. The weather was distinctly mixed (can we have a refund, Met Office), but lots of interesting stuff happening at Apedale. We have received the first visiting loco for the May Gala. This is a rather splendid Kerr, Stuart Wren which lives at Statfold, but arrived at Apedale after an outing to Beamish. If you think that makes it a well-travelled loco - that's nowt. It's also been across the Atlantic ocean twice! ISC on the tank is Imperial Smelting Company, a firm near Bristol which began in the First World War making mustard gas. We have therefore issued rubber gloves and NBC suits to the crews allocated to the Wren. The Wren arrived alightly before the new loading arrangements at Apedale were completed - this is a concrete pad, which will make loading and unloading locos to road transport much quicker and - most importantly - safer. The pad is in place, and just need connecting to the main railway system. This sounds simple, but it involves crossing the main site access road, and the levels are, to put it mildly, all over the place. In between all of this, we ran a lot of passenger trains, and entertained many passengers - the Easter Bunny even made an appearance. Finally, the Wren has now been put into store in the sheds - but it will be in steam for a photo charter on May 7th - look up 30742 charters on Facebook for more details.
