BUCKS RAILWAY CENTRE STEAM GALA HIT BY VOLUNTEER SHORTAGE
A shortage of volunteers contributed to reducing the locomotive line-up by more than half at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre’s May Bank Holiday steam gala. Shipping in unique surviving Hunslet 14in-cylinder 0-6-0ST Brookes No. 1 from the Middleton Railway, the Quainton Road steam centre had intended to field up to seven more engines from the home-based fleet. But partly because of a lack of footplatemen and guards, only ‘94XX’ 0-6-0PT No. 9466 joined Brookes No. 1 on the Up side demonstration line, while recently overhauled Sentinel 0-4-0VBT No. 11 handled all passenger shuttles on the Down side. Former Swanscombe cement works Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST No. 4 (Works No. 3718) was not ready to make its debut following overhaul. Meanwhile Hunslet ‘Austerity’ 0-6-0ST No. 66, Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST Swanscombe, Hudswell Clarke 0-4-0ST Millom and Bagnall 0-4-0ST Works No. 2469 also sat out the weekend. “We would have liked to have at least two more locomotives in steam,” said Quainton Railway Society Chairman Ben Jackson, although he added that No. 66 and Works No. 2469 would not have been able to run in any case, as they were undergoing preparation for boiler tests. Although the BRC can call upon a ‘hard core’ of around 50-60 regular volunteers, he commented: “Like most railways, some of our older members don’t look forward to preparing locomotives at 5am anymore.” However, he added: “Over the weekend we passed out one new driver and two new firemen, of whom two are in their early 20s” – while a new young volunteers’ group, launched in October and titled ‘Q Branch’, already has a membership “in double figures” with an age range of 13-24. Their current project is the cosmetic restoration of an LMS crane.