14th December 2009

Here are a couple of scenes from last Friday night’s busy Christmas event (the weekend was even busier!). More images can be found at the Flickr site which is advertised on the right of these pages.

Below: The gallopers have proved to be an immensely popular attraction – they will be in action this Friday and through the weekend once again…

Below: Friday’s misty conditions produced some atmospheric scenes – Tram 264 poses in the street. It is parked here during events to add to the scene, delineate the area for market stalls and also act as a boundary to trams turning back at the point (we are not operating through the street, so trams turn at each end of the town).

In other news…

Saturday and Sunday saw the full compliment of four road engines in action around the museum, struggling at times to make headway through the crowds! My thanks to all of those who have both provided their engines and their time this year to bring about this regular activity. Working steam around the site transforms the museum – the colliery yard (otherwise closed at this time) was made particularly vibrant by the presence of steam on Saturday. At least one engine will be out next weekend, whereupon we will lay the engines up until the New Year.

Coffee Pot No.1 is due another steam test this week, to test the mechanical side before the boiler is placed into the frames. I should have some photos of progress on the blog later this week.