Calendar 2011
During 2011 Somesay Island Railway/ Chemin de fer de l’Ondit will be staging the 26th and 27th weekends of Trains for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
The 26th weekend will happen on Sat 30th April, Sun 1st May and Monday 2nd May 2011.
The 27th weekend will happen on Sat 27th,Sun 28th and Monday 29th August 2011.
On these days the order of events will be as follows:
| 14:00 to 14:15 | Arrivals and a chance to look around the system. |
| 14:15 to 14:30 | Introduction and briefing on how the system works. |
| 14:30 to 16:30 | Working the railway in “free form”; getting used to marshalling and running trains, and the operation of the single line signalling system. During this session operators will get to work at least two different stations. |
| 16:30 to 17:00 | Refreshments (please note that all refreshments are donated, and will, it is hoped, further induce visitors to part generously with contributions). |
| 17:00 to 17:15 | Briefing on the operation of a day’s timetable. |
| 17:15 to 19:30 | Operation of a timetable; this is arranged so that one full weekday of Somesay operations takes 60 minutes of train running time. In order to familiarise operators with what is required, the week starts on “Sunday” (around lunchtime) with a reduced service that takes about 30 minutes.If done “properly” all trains will end each day in the position from which they should start the next day. Operators therefore have the chance to move to a different station between “days”, or to remain in place and “learn from their mistakes”. |
| 19:30 | Departure, and we hope that you will give to MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE in proportion to the extent to which you feel that you have been challenged/entertained. |
Please note it is NOT possible for visitors to bring and run steam locomotives on any of the “Trains for MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE” days. However, we are offering a “Steam for MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE” on Saturday 7th May 2011 (14:00 to 19:30) as an additional private function for members of the Association of 16mm Narrow Gauge Modellers (when live steam trains will be in operation); see www.bag16mm.org.uk for other details.
Martin and Liz Shrubsole have previously operated the Railway as part of team-building exercises, and would be happy to do so again in return for an appropriate donation to MARIE CURIE CANCER CARE.