Summary
Nick and Amanda's Wedding
15th May 2016
It was both a pleasure and a privilege to host an after wedding event for another of Alan and June's daughters. This time it was Amanda's turn. Cliff made a special headboard for King Jack and L94 was decorated with the traditional white ribbon.
The happy couple can be seen with Amanda driving King Jack.
At Baytree, we presented Amanda and Nick with a card and present and wished them happiness for the future.
There is no need for more photographs as here is the link to
The Nick and Amanda Wedding Section
Carriage Shed Progress
DG's son Jonathan had almost single handedly completed the outside two arched doors in the April of 2016. We welcomed Jonathan again in August, this time with his wife and young boys who were able to enjoy helping dad at work and get in some engine driving.
Whilst Jonathan completed the difficult front arches and tapered roof support there remained some brickwork on the low wall on one side and we are grateful to Alan S for almost completing this bricklaying during an October running day.
A final picture shows state of the project at the end of the summer. The structure is now almost ready for its wooden frame and roof which we hoped to add in the winter.
A bonus is that the picture allows us to laugh with Paul during an unfortunate encounter with a pile of bricks.
Paul, a friend of Mick, has become quite a regular visitor to the railway, often on workdays when his skills and energy have always been on show.
Dave Marsh's Standard 5 Arrives
This rather fine model had been long awaited, coming together in Alan S's workshop for several years and now we could all enjoy it.
It is not resident at the railway but we look forward to frequent appearances of 73115, King Pellinore.
Anoraks will know that this 1950s built locomotive, allocated to the Southern Region, acquired the name from a scrapped 'King Arthur' class of somewhat earlier vintage.
King Edward Departs
In 2007 Alan A bought a Great Western King locomotive from America; a 7½" gauge model.
Alan S re-gauged it to 7¼", completing the work in 2011.
It is a beautiful model, with amazing detail - the cab controls are almost exactly as prototype. However, the steep gradients and quite tight curves of the SLR were not its natural home and in 2016 it left for pastures new.
Visitors to the SLR
The pictures above show a few of the visiting locomotives and, on the right, detailed model Metropolitan Railway coaches.
Not many locomotives visited the railway in 2016; all the above pictures and that on the right were taken on the 11th of June.
We had one more visitor on September 3rd, an 0-4-2 tank named Stephen and it can be seen on the left
We went Visiting
On July 23rd, David G arranged a special visit to the Great Cockcrow Railway when we brought our locos and had the railway all to ourselves.
The friends also took over the signalling. Pictures show Jamie oiling up and Bob signalling in Hardwick box.
There are more pictures in the Archive News 2016
On September 4th Dave M and Andy G arranged for us to join a visit to the late Ted Martin's Garden and Woodland Railway at Thame. Quite an intricate layout, with no signals and all Great Western locomotives. Not quite the Cockcrow visit as we were not invited to bring our locos or to drive theirs, but an experience all the same.
You can find more about the railway by searching on 'Ted Martin' on Google and when this page was written this Link to a U Tube video of the Garden and Woodland Railway was active. The video was not taken on the day of our visit.
Friends and Family Day
Previous years saw several days designated 'Friends and Family' but we are now moving to selecting a particular day and making it special.
This year it was August 20th and we were rewarded with warm weather and lots of friends and family.
A warm evening Spinney BBQ ended the evening - As ever 'Thank You June'.
Ladies Day
It was just by chance that on September 24th several ladies visited the railway - hence 'Ladies Day'. A glamorous enhancement, sadly without Heather who was not with us.
New Carriages
Early in the year Cliff was given the opportunity to buy these coaches from the widow of the builder of Clan Line.
Several of the team clubbed together to provide the money and we brought them to the Railway.
Our Locos not Shown in the Pictures Above
The locos shown below are of those that are resident at the railway and ran in 2016 but have not been shown in the pictures above.
Unfortunately there is no picture, this year, of Karen, a Holmside belonging to
Alan S.
Jessie
Two New Friends
The lovely Labrador Phoebe has been a feature of the railway ever since Alan and June took over, way back in the year 2000.
Phoebe was always glad to see us and was particularly friendly at lunch time! Sadly, it became obvious that she was growing old and she has died.
There can be no replacement for Phoebe but we were glad to welcome Sophie (another Golden Labrador) and Millie to the railway this year.
Team Photo 2016
It has been our practice to take a team photo at the end of each winter and this year we forgot.
The photo above taken in 2016 during the visit to Ted Martin's is the best available.
Working along those standing, from left to right we have Mick, Robin, Heather, ???, ???, Tim, Alan S, Dave M, Nick, Anika (Jamie's wife) and Andy Gelson.
At the front are Jamie and his son Henry.
The End of Another Year
This evocative picture of lit semaphore signals at Baytree, in the dusk of a November evening is an appropriate end to the account of our running in the year.