Colne Valley Railway News

Sunday 14th July saw the Colne Valley at War day with lots of re-enactors on site. In the week we had a pre-school group with 71 children and nearly as many adults finish off their term by sending a day with us.  They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I imagine many children were asleep by the time they left the site!  We've also had a private coach party in and on another day 40+ railway enthusiasts who travelled in from all over the country.    

Thomas has made his first visit of the year.  We had two very busy weekends and lots of excited children.  Thomas and Daisy the Diesel ran on the main line and Mavis gave rides in Toad on our demonstration line.  It was 'All Change' this year as the trains ran continuously, Sir Topham Hatt was very pleased with Thomas and his crew for working so hard on some very warm days. Thomas was also visiting the garden railway with James and Percy All in all it's been a very busy couple of weeks with school visits and a private coach tour inbetween the Thomas weekends.  Thomas leaves today but will be back in September

 Sunday 19th May saw the first Emergency Services event at the Railway.  The idea came from seeing how popular the fire engine is when visiting us.  Unfortunately the local fire and police services couldn't help as everything near us is retained but we had representatives from the Essex Fire Museum and Air Ambulance, St Johns Ambulance and Police Museum along as well as some preserved vehicles. The British Transport Police Dog Section were very popular - they use us as a regular training base so to come along on a casual day made a change.   The day ended with a demonstration involving all the emergency services

The Bank Holiday weekend of 5th/6th May saw the first visit of Peppa Pig and her little brother George. The pair were on hand to meet visitors young and old, and enjoy lots of cuddles from their adoring fans. The sun was shining and the visitors poured in.  Train crews were kept busy both on the main line and the miniature railway and it was great to see so many happy visitors on site.  A very successful event.

The weekend of 20/21 April saw the annual vintage vehicle rally which was well attended by vehicles old and new and all shapes and sizes. The weather was good both days this year and on the Sunday the exhibition field was full. This roller sounded particularly good as it went along

Icicles on the water tower (12th March) The opening weekend of the 2013 season saw steam driver experience courses on Saturday 9th March which all went well. Our first steam day on the Sunday didn't.  The weather was very wet, cold and snowy so the decision was taken to run the DMU only.  The atrocious conditions meant visitor numbers were lower then expected but there was a good number who braved the weather and came along and enjoyed themselves. We had a school visit us on Tuesday and in spite of the bitter cold they still wanted their ride on the miniature railway - it certainly blew the cobwebs away!

All available diesels in our fleet should be in action at our Diesel Gala on Sunday 17th March. We hope to have running  class 121 Bubble car W55033, Class 141 Pacer 141108 - which has now had its engine problems fixed and hopefully will be seen in action more this year. 03s D2041 and D2184 will be topping and tailing on the passenger coaches whilst 31255 and 08683 will top and tail on the freight train where you can ride in the brake van or the tube wagon. Gates open at 10:30, first train 11:30 with a proposed 10 minute service.