Dear Martin,
hello from Sydney, at long last back in the routine of work and catching up on everything here, nothing overly exciting, plenty of bills to pay off and everything else you have to do to keep things rolling along!
Well, where to start! A huge "Thank You" to you and the team, the team of John's and Rodney for his wonderful tales and insights! For making Friday the 21st. June such a special day for me and my friends, and Ella the Lab! I know from the other people who were part of the day, as they stayed at the Red Lion too, had a wonderful time, as we relived the day over breakfast the following morning, and the Scottish Gent from Glasgow was speechless after the class 31 session!
What made it special was so many things coming together seamlessly, and the flexibility of being able to accommodate everything. When I first started looking into my 2013 day, I had a number of railways in mind, but some are quite far, although fine for me, as it is a holiday and travelling go hand in hand, it is not so easy for friends to join in, what with work and families, and being a Stockport native, the proximity was perfect, as days out to Buxton and Matlock have long been an institution for weekend drives and rides out on mopeds back in the day, Derbyshire, Pennines and Goyt Valley are some of my favourite places, so the railway became the perfect choice.
The booking through Buy-a-Gift was straight forward and the feedback written about the railway and staff was extremely positive, and I have to say, everything said was true. Dealing with your good-self on my DMU requests was a pleasure, and you kept me informed of the progression of the day planned, and the reality surpassed the expectation, the only change was that we were unable to use the Ravenstor Incline, as the Steam gang were using it on the day, then unfortunately, the loco broke down and was unable to be moved, but we made up for it by some extra time on the class 31, and propelling the guards van from Duffield to Wirksworth, was an unusual high-light indeed, and made for some great filming and views of the line for all!
My friend and I arrived late in the afternoon the day before, to have a nosey around the yard, as I just had to see the place in the flesh, and I wanted to make sure I would be in the right place at the right time, and I asked if I could take some photos, well nothing was to much trouble and Rodney gave us a quick tour before you had to close-up, which I thought was a nice touch, nothing was to much trouble, as I love first generation DMU's, and to be able to get up-close to them, just for a photo, is a gift in itself, thank you all again for that, I left for beer back at the pub with the taste of Diesel in my nostrils!
Come the following day I was waiting for my friend John, who has a caravan nearby, John has a companion dog, and he arrived a touch past ten and missed the initial brief before we headed out to the carriage shed, to see the workings of the railway and the team up close, thankfully, this was no problem and John and Ella were soon with us, I was concerned for Ella, as I hadn't asked about dogs, as I didn't realise till the day that he had brought her, as sometimes he has her at a doggy wash, but as he was down at the van for three days, he couldn't leave her, but welcomed she was!
There was also a gentleman on the course with his wife, who were also at the Red Lion, he was suffering from a painful leg condition, and he was having all sorts of trouble here and there, and I am sure that some places may not have allowed him to participate, but the staff and the rest of us, helped him up when he needed it and he was able to fulfil everything he had set out to do, again, great team work from those involved, and I know, because we had breakfast together, that he was touched and over the moon with being able to fully join in.
I will be planning my next trip in the New Year, once Christmas and all holidays are over and things settled down a touch, at this stage, what with the changes that my work is going through (Qantas-The airline is going through a shake up), I may be back in late May till late June, or late Sept till Oct, so I was wondering if something could be booked Martin? I had some ideas and then I checked and found all the new courses! Wow, like my mind had been read! I was going to enquire about hiring the railway to do a days DMU course, and wether it would be possible, pending traffic status and yard logistics of the vehicles, to drive a mixed rake-class/hybrid set, so I can tick-off some classes that I once saw and rode upon in the flesh, and spread the goodwill amongst the owners/groups? I love driving locos, please don't get me wrong having driven Weybourne's 31, and the Deltic at East Lancs in 2010, but DMU's are so hard to find courses for, that when one comes up, to stay on it for the duration is magic. I was able to book a day on the Churnet Valley last year, and was able to drive the class 104-110 three car set, with Roger as my tutor, that really got me hooked! So a dedicated DMU course would be the bees knees indeed!
Ultimately I will find myself back in England for a while in the near future, as I have to complete 25yrs in Australia to comply with laws regarding pensions and other legal stuff, and I have about three years to go, Mum and Dad are not getting any younger and sadly we lost my one and only Brother, quite suddenly, last year, and being no one else, I consider it my duty to make sure they are ok, as my Brother lived close to them in rural Lincolnshire, but that has all changed now.
Being back would allow me to be more involved in many things, and having an interest in railways, would provide me with the things I miss out here, eventually I would love to own/share a railcar, be qualified to drive it and be involved with the day to day running of a railway. I have no idea of whats involved with the purchase of a railcar, how it works between the railway and its owners, insurance, servicing and maintenance etc, but it must work hand-in-hand, or no railways would be operating as they are, and no preserved stock would have anywhere to run! It's a long thought I know, and one for the years ahead, but it is something that I am truly interested in.
Well Martin, I have taken far to much of your time, but at the very least, I wanted to thank you and the team for a marvelous experience, and hopefully one that can be repeated in the future,
yours sincerely, Steven Sullivan.