High Wycombe Spinney Visit Article August 2011
It may seem a while ago, but due to the special edition last month, we had no coverage of this year's trip to the Spinney Light Railway.
The 16th of July dawned with a less than auspicious start - the rain was pouring down in the Wycombe area as those members who had arranged to go converged on the leafy Surrey suburb that is the home of the Spinney. However, right on cue, the rain ceased, and although the sun could not be said to be splitting the pavements, it was reasonable enough to enjoy the railway and gardens of the Spinney.
The one downside of the weather was that the rails were declared too slippery for long trains to be run, so we were limited to short, single rakes for most of the day. This, combined with the locomotive driving turns, which had no passengers, meant that rides were not as plentiful as in previous years. Also there was not the array of visiting locos we have become used to in previous years, but none of this damped the enthusiasm of the visiting members.
A number of members had driving trips and signalling turns rostered for the afternoon. This year, due to signal box refurbishment we had use of the Spinney and Old Oak boxes. These being somewhat more complex than the normal boxes used for training, it proved to be a challenge for those of us who turned our hands to it.
All in all the day was very pleasant. This has now become a regular fixture on the club calendar, and one which I am sure we all thank Graham Machin for organizing and Alan Ainslie and all those at the Spinney for making us feel so welcome. The auctioning of the driver and signaling turns, and the small fee for attendance meant that we contributed just short of £350 to the running of the Spinney this year.