T R A C

Meeting Reports


JANUARY 2001
At the January meeting Mark Horner showed a video of the Seaton Tramway and gave an interesting talk on the origins of the tramway, how it came to Seaton, it's development to date and what the plans are for the future. He explained how the trams are maintained and how new ones are built. After refreshments he answered a considerable amount of questions about the tramway from the well-attended meeting.

FEBRUARY 2001
At the February meeting Roger Hardingham showed slides and gave a very interesting talk about the famous scrapyard for Steam Engines etc. that existed on the Barry Peninsular in South Wales during the 1960's/70's/80's and which supplied many of the steam engines that are used on Preserved Railway line such as the West Somerset Railway and most of the other lines that today would have found it hard to exist in their present form. The cost of buying an engine was probably the easiest part when you consider the amount of money needed and time from a limited band of volunteers needed to restore it to running order. After refreshments he answered a considerable number of questions about the scrapyard from the well-attended meeting.

MARCH 2001
At the March meeting Alan Stanislake gave an interesting talk and showed slides about the West Somerset Railway illustrating what the railway was like at the time it was taken over from British Rail and then showing the same view showing the improvements that have been made since. He then went on to talk about the work that is done both by the paid staff and the volunteers without whom the railway would not be able to operate. He also show slides to illustrate the work that is being done. After refreshments he answered a considerable number of questions from a very well-attended meeting. Members had the opportunity to see in operation the model railway layout that Richard Holt had constructed for the Model exhibition held at Seaton Town Hall on the 3 March, and which had formed the centre piece of the club stand.

APRIL 2001
At the April meeting of TRAC, Phil Dominey, Group Station Manager gave an interesting talk and showed slides about Southwest Trains illustrating what the Company set out to achieve when it first won the franchise back in 1996 and the progress it has made since then. He then went on to talk about what went into the successful bid to win the next 20 year franchise and pointed out that this area will come under a different franchise, Wessex Railways, and although they have put in a bid for this franchise the result is not yet decided. After refreshments he dealt with a long questions and answers session about the railway from a well-attended meeting. One of our younger members, Ian Mowlem, brought along a Model Railway which was admired in operation during the interval.

MAY 2001
At the May meeting of TRAC, Ken Williams gave an interesting talk about the Kingsbridge Branch Line of the old Great Western Railway which ran through the very beautiful South Hams area of South Devon, and not far from Plymouth. A book has been recently published about the line and Mr Williams is joint author of it. He did a lot of research into the line not only during its existence but also from the inception of the line by local dignitaries but during the building process and also what has happened to the various parts that went into it's makeup and what they are being used for now. He was able to trace some of the people who had worked on the railway in it's later years before closure in the early 1960's and recounted some of the stories he had heard from them. After refreshments he showed videos of the line, the people who worked on it and the trains that ran on it, and then answered questions about the railway from a well-attended meeting.

JUNE 2001
Chris Challis of of Challis Models in Shepton Mallett came along to give a very interesting talk on Railway Modelling.

JULY 2001
There was no indoor meeting, but a group of TRAC members had a very enjoyable outing to the AVR and Bitton Railway near Bristol. See some photos here

AUGUST 2001
There was no indoor meeting of TRAC, but a group of 11 of us took part in an outing to the Seaton Tramway in East Devon.

SEPTEMBER 2001
Scotland from the Train - John Cornelius

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