A Few more from the photo gala

[Aidan McCarthy]

A couple of pictures of the hard working crews who make these events possible

[Derek Walker]

Hard working? gee, those guys are having a brew up!
Seriously though, these guys who run and maintain the locos for our enjoyment do deserve every word of praise they can get, what worries me though is when it comes for the time for them to lay down the regulator and shovel, will we ever be able to find new blood with that level of enthusiasm, dedication and professionalism? lets face it, steam train drivers are very rare, and we need to start looking at training up the youngsters to take their place, and, not only the youngsters but women and girls too. We may be the present, but they will be the ones who may have to keep the trains going after we have all gone to that great big steam loco in the sky where all our long gone engines have gone to.

Oh, and one last thought about train drivers and stokers, they are just big boys with really BIG train sets and they enjoy what they do, otherwise they would not be doing it with such dedication.