Badges - a new line in for sale
We have had made some lapel pin badges of the original of our Class 66 locomotive "British Rail".
They're approximately 65mm wide by 12mm high, and as you can see quite well detailed considering their size.
They're just £5 each, and you can get them from us on any running day.
If you can't make it to us and would like one, please drop us a line using the Contact Us form.
They're approximately 65mm wide by 12mm high, and as you can see quite well detailed considering their size.
They're just £5 each, and you can get them from us on any running day.
If you can't make it to us and would like one, please drop us a line using the Contact Us form.
Spring 2024 Newsletter
May 2024
We've now been open for over a month, and the soggy and chilly spring weather has certainly made its presence known.
We managed to run a steam service for the first time this year too; usually we don't have enough volunteers to be able to do so as they are fickle labour intensive little devices.
We're also approaching the time of year when we will be running private groups during the week and on weekday evenings - if you'd like to have sole use of the railway for an hour or 3 and would like to help contribute to the railways continuing existence then please drop us a line using the Contact Us page.
A few of us took advantage of an invitation by the Welling and District MES to join them for an April Saturday, and we had a great day there. The facilities made us all rather envious - to say the least... Our thanks to them for the invitation, welcome and sustenance which was much appreciated.
We finally managed to do some much needed ground maintenance in the first week of May, though the machinery and operators certainly knew how wet the ground still was.
Our Simplex loco "Phoenix" has been moved to the Chief Mechanical Engineers workshop where he's been attended to, and hopefully he will soon return for further checks before going back into service after many years.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening - weather permitting we are open between 2pm and 5pm on every Sunday and Bank Holiday between now and the end of October.
Rides remain at just 75p each, and don't forget we now take credit cards using our SumUp reader. Please bear with us at times as the railway is in a poor signal area and it always plays up at the most inopportune times!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Previously……
April 2024
Well, our Easter opening has been and gone. Easter Sunday saw us running for the first time in 2024, and thank you to everyone who came along including our frequent travellers!
Sadly Easter Monday was a complete washout. We hid under the gazebo for a few hours surrounded by puddles but given the total lack of anyone in the park we abandoned ship (almost literally!) halfway through the afternoon.
The previous months heavy rain has left the ground extremely wet and flooded in places we've never seen before, so if you do come down please stay still on the carriages. The grassy slopes around the cuttings are very slippery and if we need to re-rail a carriage you could get rather muddy!
The newly rebuilt Simplex 'Phoenix' still awaits some fixes after an initial steaming - they are in hand - and so of course we're still looking forwards to putting Phoenix into service as soon as we can.
March 2024
The most obvious news if you've been in Goffs Park lately is the long awaited erection of some fencing to help ensure the safety of park users and our passengers when we're running. This is being provided by Crawley Borough Council as part of their improvements to Goffs Park - a very big thank you for getting this done before we commence the new seasons running on Easter Sunday.
The weather has had quite an impact on our preparations for the start of running; we have to do a lot of work in the open and it's just not been possible to do anything like as much work as we wanted to do.
The workshop has its spruce up started, and that's going to be finished off when the weather really does improve.
The newly rebuilt Simplex 'Phoenix' awaits final checks (thanks to the weather!) so we're still looking forwards to putting Phoenix into service soon.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening - weather permitting we will be open for the season at 2pm on Easter Sunday - which is on the 31st March this year.
Rides will remain at 75p each, and don't forget we now take credit cards using our SumUp reader. Please bear with us at times as the railway is in a poor signal area and it always plays up at the most inopportune times!
We look forwards to seeing you soon!
We've now been open for over a month, and the soggy and chilly spring weather has certainly made its presence known.
We managed to run a steam service for the first time this year too; usually we don't have enough volunteers to be able to do so as they are fickle labour intensive little devices.
We're also approaching the time of year when we will be running private groups during the week and on weekday evenings - if you'd like to have sole use of the railway for an hour or 3 and would like to help contribute to the railways continuing existence then please drop us a line using the Contact Us page.
A few of us took advantage of an invitation by the Welling and District MES to join them for an April Saturday, and we had a great day there. The facilities made us all rather envious - to say the least... Our thanks to them for the invitation, welcome and sustenance which was much appreciated.
We finally managed to do some much needed ground maintenance in the first week of May, though the machinery and operators certainly knew how wet the ground still was.
Our Simplex loco "Phoenix" has been moved to the Chief Mechanical Engineers workshop where he's been attended to, and hopefully he will soon return for further checks before going back into service after many years.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening - weather permitting we are open between 2pm and 5pm on every Sunday and Bank Holiday between now and the end of October.
Rides remain at just 75p each, and don't forget we now take credit cards using our SumUp reader. Please bear with us at times as the railway is in a poor signal area and it always plays up at the most inopportune times!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Previously……
April 2024
Well, our Easter opening has been and gone. Easter Sunday saw us running for the first time in 2024, and thank you to everyone who came along including our frequent travellers!
Sadly Easter Monday was a complete washout. We hid under the gazebo for a few hours surrounded by puddles but given the total lack of anyone in the park we abandoned ship (almost literally!) halfway through the afternoon.
The previous months heavy rain has left the ground extremely wet and flooded in places we've never seen before, so if you do come down please stay still on the carriages. The grassy slopes around the cuttings are very slippery and if we need to re-rail a carriage you could get rather muddy!
The newly rebuilt Simplex 'Phoenix' still awaits some fixes after an initial steaming - they are in hand - and so of course we're still looking forwards to putting Phoenix into service as soon as we can.
March 2024
The most obvious news if you've been in Goffs Park lately is the long awaited erection of some fencing to help ensure the safety of park users and our passengers when we're running. This is being provided by Crawley Borough Council as part of their improvements to Goffs Park - a very big thank you for getting this done before we commence the new seasons running on Easter Sunday.
The weather has had quite an impact on our preparations for the start of running; we have to do a lot of work in the open and it's just not been possible to do anything like as much work as we wanted to do.
The workshop has its spruce up started, and that's going to be finished off when the weather really does improve.
The newly rebuilt Simplex 'Phoenix' awaits final checks (thanks to the weather!) so we're still looking forwards to putting Phoenix into service soon.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening - weather permitting we will be open for the season at 2pm on Easter Sunday - which is on the 31st March this year.
Rides will remain at 75p each, and don't forget we now take credit cards using our SumUp reader. Please bear with us at times as the railway is in a poor signal area and it always plays up at the most inopportune times!
We look forwards to seeing you soon!
February 2024
We've still been at work behind the scenes even if it's not always obvious.
The workshop has had a bit of a spruce up started, and we'll soon start to check all the rolling stock over for the start of services on Easter Sunday.
The newly rebuilt Simplex has a whole new livery and has been christened 'Phoenix' by popular vote. Several other names were suggested by the workshop team after various complications arose during the rebuild but they were, er, discarded... Initial steamings have highlighted a couple of issues, most of which have now been addressed but at least one remains as this is typed. The tests have indicated Phoenix is going to be a very well steaming engine so we're looking forwards to putting Phoenix into service soon.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening - we should be open for the season on Easter Sunday which is on the 31st March this year.
January 2024
Although the weather has been very very poor leading to just a meet up for a warming tea or coffee on New Years Day, the first Sunday of January was a lovely cold and sunny morning. Even the daffodils are deciding it's time to wake up.
We were able to run 2 members steam locomotives for a couple of hours and almost without incident (a rare event running these hand-built live steam locos) - a screw worked it's way loose but was captured before making an escape.
Work continues on the clubs Simplex rebuild, and we've had a complete new set of clubhouse doors fitted which we're gradually painting up in what looks like will become the new club colours.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening - we should be open for the season on Easter Sunday which is on the 31st March this year.
December 2023
Sadly we didn't manage to run any Sundays after the end of British Summer Time. The ground surrounding the track was just too wet and soggy to run safely, so our next official public running day will be on Easter Sunday, that's March 31st. Of course if we can open beforehand we will.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening.
We'll now also begin our winter maintenance of the railway, plus we try and have a members running day on the first Sunday of each month so you may well see us at the railway at any time. Feel free to come and say hello.
November 2023
October was a month of extremes almost. The 8th saw a 24c day with shorts in evidence; the following weekend saw the same folks wrapped up in thermals and shivering. We managed to run up to and including our last scheduled Sunday, but since then we've been thwarted by some rather unpleasant weather.
It's highly likely that the heavy rain from the recent storms Babet and Ciaran has made the ground around the track too slippery for us to run safely now but if we can, then we will run.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening.
We'll now also begin our winter maintenance of the railway, plus we try and have a members running day on the first Sunday of each month so you may well see us at the railway at any time. Feel free to come and say hello.
One job that one of the team has done offsite is to overhaul the ticket office. It's now painted in close to BR 'blood and custard' livery and sports a much more period feel than it did - it is after all a repurposed shop fitting from a skip! Note too the platform canopy decorative effect - now we have to set about making the rest of the station area looking as good...
October 2023
We had a pretty good September with some lovely hot and sunny Sunday afternoons - just one Sunday wasn't particularly nice though we did manage to open for an hour or so. Thanks to those that braved that afternoon.
Don't forget we're open every Sunday between 2pm and 5pm between now and at least until the 22nd October - the English weather permitting.
This time of year will see us spending more time on maintenance of the track and the grounds. Whilst the lovely big maples afford us plenty of shade in the summer, those leaves create quite some carpet on the inside of the track.
The engineering team are continuing work off site. The Simplex is coming along nicely, and Sir Nigel Gresley is due in soon for attention.
September 2023
Augusts big news for us was the launching of our GoFundMe page to try and help us secure the future of the railway for another 60 years. You can see what we'd like to do by having a look at the Future Plans page. Many thanks to those who have donated already! We're off and running.
We've now run our last school holiday Wednesday service. We 'only' lost one day to weather which is the same as last year. Sundays have continued gently and we've been able to run a steam service on most days. Thanks to all those who came and rode with us.
The rebuild of the Simplex continues slowly in the background, summer holidays and real work have slowed progress a bit but rest assured its coming along nicely.
Sadly Sir Nigel failed again after many weekends of sterling service. It's now awaiting the attention of the engineering team once again.
August 2023
June's run of weather disappeared almost as soon as the month started! Our group who were rained off in June did manage to get their visit in on one of the nicer days in July. The groups all booked for July had decent days too luckily.
There was a Friends of Goffs Park event held on the 9th - we had our busiest day of the year on that Sunday. The Circus was in the park the following week, and there was a funfair in Southgate Park the week after, both of which saw our numbers drop. The weather didn't help us on the last Sunday in August either; the forecast wasn't great but by 3pm the rain had started and the park was empty so we packed up and shut up for the month.
We started our Wednesday School holiday running too, though the playground being closed for maintenance no doubt kept a few people away.
Sir Nigel has now run on quite a few days with nothing to report since the workshop team finally fixed him. The rebuild of the black Simplex continues in the workshop, and you'll probably see us doing work around the track on non running days.
Don't forget we're open every Sunday, Wednesday in the school holidays (last day 30th August) and Bank Holiday Monday between now and at least the end of October - the English weather permitting.
July 2023
June certainly passed rather too quickly!
We had 5 group sessions in June, ranging from Beaver troops to preschool picnics. Only one group visit was thwarted by our weather but we hope to see them in July.
Our great workshop team have worked their magic once again, and A4 Sir Nigel Gresley has been returned to full working order. He proved himself on a group evening and has now run his first public service without incident.
Don't forget we're open every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday between now and at least the end of October - the English weather permitting.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening.
The fare is 75p per ride - and of course we now take cardless payments too; though there is a minimum of 2 rides per payment (£1.50).
June 2023
The weather was on the whole much kinder to us in May, especially as we had the extra Coronation Bank Holiday to enjoy - which was just as well as May Day was a typical English bank holiday...
We also hosted our first group session - a local childminders group on a nice sunny morning.
The Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley did indeed makes it's debut on passenger duties, but sadly suffered a breakdown before the afternoon was out. It remains under repair.
The club steam loco under overhaul continues slowly in the background, though in the last month the clubs workshop team performed a stealthy major overhaul of the clubs Class 08 shunter. It had become a slightly unloved loco, being used only as a backup or on maintenance train duties and looked very dowdy in scruffy black. There's more pictures on the Motive Power Depot page - take a close look inside the cab!
The clubs red Simplex known only as 'the LMS' has now been formally named by one of our younger frequent passengers - it's now "Arthur" after a famous book and TV series character.
If you'd like to get a group together to have the railway to yourselves for a few hours, please get in touch with us. We've had visits from youth and childminders groups in the past and have quite a few already lined up this year for weekday or early evening visits.
May 2023
The weather was not kind to us in April. The forecast for Easter Monday was poor and not showing any signs of improving, so we too the decision to open on Good Friday instead so a few of you spotted our Facebook update or saw us running in the park. Easter Sunday was a great day for us with over 400 rides sold. Sadly St Georges Day on the 23rd April also suffered the same fate, which was even sadder for the Scouts who held their parade in the park that afternoon.
We've already had as many washouts as we did in the whole of 2022 so we're hoping we've seen the last of days like this.
We've had a couple of new members join us this year, one of whom has acquired a battery powered 5" gauge accurate model of LNER Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley, complete with 2 tenders. We're hoping to see it in action pulling passengers very soon!
The club steam loco under overhaul continues slowly in the background, the bodywork is being updated slightly before painting can begin and it's then on to reassembly.
If you'd like to get a group together to have the railway to yourselves for a few hours, please get in touch with us. We've had visits from youth and childminders groups in the past and have quite a few already lined up this year for weekday or early evening visits.
April 2023
Ironically what should have been our first day of running on the day of the clocks going forwards was washed out..
The previous few Sundays saw some cool weather, but thanks to all those who braved the chill factor and took a ride with us.
On one of these early running days we were visited by Youtuber 'Henrys Adventures' who spent a few hours with us. You can see his visit here: youtu.be/FD8jU1jHzLg
Fingers crossed the rest of our running seasons weather will be kind to us.
If you'd like to get a group together to have the railway to yourselves for a few hours, please get in touch with us. We've had visits from youth and childminders groups in the past and have a few already lined up this year for weekday or early evening visits.
March 2023
Well, we began running as we'd hoped for on the last Sunday of February.
Many thanks to all those who came along and took a trip on the railway - we were very pleasantly surprised by how many came and took a ride with us on a cool day.
We were able to start the season with 2 steam engines (the smaller ones in the image below in Februarys update); the green one one belonging to a member and the red one the clubs newest steam locomotive which is proving to be a reliable passenger hauler.
We're hoping the weather will be as kind to us each Sunday afternoon!
Behind the scenes the engineering team is beginning to put the clubs other steam loco back together as part of its refurbishment - it's literally been stripped to the chassis!
Don't forget we're open every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday between now and at least the end of October - the English weather permitting.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening.
The fare is 75p per ride - and of course we now take cardless payments too; though there is a minimum of 2 rides per payment (£1.50).
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening.
The fare is 75p per ride - and of course we now take cardless payments too; though there is a minimum of 2 rides per payment (£1.50).
June 2023
The weather was on the whole much kinder to us in May, especially as we had the extra Coronation Bank Holiday to enjoy - which was just as well as May Day was a typical English bank holiday...
We also hosted our first group session - a local childminders group on a nice sunny morning.
The Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley did indeed makes it's debut on passenger duties, but sadly suffered a breakdown before the afternoon was out. It remains under repair.
The club steam loco under overhaul continues slowly in the background, though in the last month the clubs workshop team performed a stealthy major overhaul of the clubs Class 08 shunter. It had become a slightly unloved loco, being used only as a backup or on maintenance train duties and looked very dowdy in scruffy black. There's more pictures on the Motive Power Depot page - take a close look inside the cab!
The clubs red Simplex known only as 'the LMS' has now been formally named by one of our younger frequent passengers - it's now "Arthur" after a famous book and TV series character.
If you'd like to get a group together to have the railway to yourselves for a few hours, please get in touch with us. We've had visits from youth and childminders groups in the past and have quite a few already lined up this year for weekday or early evening visits.
May 2023
The weather was not kind to us in April. The forecast for Easter Monday was poor and not showing any signs of improving, so we too the decision to open on Good Friday instead so a few of you spotted our Facebook update or saw us running in the park. Easter Sunday was a great day for us with over 400 rides sold. Sadly St Georges Day on the 23rd April also suffered the same fate, which was even sadder for the Scouts who held their parade in the park that afternoon.
We've already had as many washouts as we did in the whole of 2022 so we're hoping we've seen the last of days like this.
We've had a couple of new members join us this year, one of whom has acquired a battery powered 5" gauge accurate model of LNER Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley, complete with 2 tenders. We're hoping to see it in action pulling passengers very soon!
The club steam loco under overhaul continues slowly in the background, the bodywork is being updated slightly before painting can begin and it's then on to reassembly.
If you'd like to get a group together to have the railway to yourselves for a few hours, please get in touch with us. We've had visits from youth and childminders groups in the past and have quite a few already lined up this year for weekday or early evening visits.
April 2023
Ironically what should have been our first day of running on the day of the clocks going forwards was washed out..
The previous few Sundays saw some cool weather, but thanks to all those who braved the chill factor and took a ride with us.
On one of these early running days we were visited by Youtuber 'Henrys Adventures' who spent a few hours with us. You can see his visit here: youtu.be/FD8jU1jHzLg
Fingers crossed the rest of our running seasons weather will be kind to us.
If you'd like to get a group together to have the railway to yourselves for a few hours, please get in touch with us. We've had visits from youth and childminders groups in the past and have a few already lined up this year for weekday or early evening visits.
March 2023
Well, we began running as we'd hoped for on the last Sunday of February.
Many thanks to all those who came along and took a trip on the railway - we were very pleasantly surprised by how many came and took a ride with us on a cool day.
We were able to start the season with 2 steam engines (the smaller ones in the image below in Februarys update); the green one one belonging to a member and the red one the clubs newest steam locomotive which is proving to be a reliable passenger hauler.
We're hoping the weather will be as kind to us each Sunday afternoon!
Behind the scenes the engineering team is beginning to put the clubs other steam loco back together as part of its refurbishment - it's literally been stripped to the chassis!
Don't forget we're open every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday between now and at least the end of October - the English weather permitting.
Keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day updates about us opening.
The fare is 75p per ride - and of course we now take cardless payments too; though there is a minimum of 2 rides per payment (£1.50).
February 2023
It's now just a few weeks till we begin our passenger services again - our first scheduled running day is now the 26th February 2023; see the home page for more details.
January was a quiet month for us, we did a few odd jobs in the workshop but not a lot more than that.
We did have a great members running day on the first Sunday of February. One of our long term but more distant members brought his Black 5 steam loco along for it's annual test and on completion of that he was able to run it without issue. We also had another members loco in steam, along with the clubs red Simplex, so we had the great sight of 3 steam engines running on a glorious day.
January 2023
Welcome to 2023. This year sees the 60th anniversary of the first short track being built in Goffs Park, and one of those members is a member today!
We celebrated the start of 2023 on New Years Day by having our usual member running day where we ran a couple of the members steam locos, and even did a couple of impromptu passenger rides.
We're now looking forwards to starting passenger services again in March, though we have some maintenance to perform on the track before we get to that point. Some of the track is now badly worn through sheer usage so you may well see us removing and reversing certain sections of the rails at times.
We've endeavoured to clear the drain issue we have, but even with a petrol high pressure washer drain clearer we only made a small impression on it. It looks hopeful though, as on our New Years Day meetup after some pretty heavy rain we weren't faced with a flooded station again.
We hope to see everyone again this spring - our first scheduled running day is the 26th March 2023 - the day the hour springs forward to British Summer Time.
December 2022
So that's our passenger days finished for 2022. We had a record year for the number of tickets sold - thank you to all those who came and took a ride on our railway.
We managed to do 2 passenger days in November, and on one of those we managed to do something the club hasn't achieved for many years - we ran an all-steam service throughout the session. This was achieved by 2 club members running their locomotives (a Speedy and a modified Simplex for those in the know) along with the clubs own new this year Simplex. We ran them in a relay, as the steam locos can be fickle little devices and can't be relied on to last all 3 hours of the session. Mind you, neither can the drivers! The older amongst us tend to seize up before the locos have had enough...
The last running day was fortunately relatively quiet as the heavy rain combined with a blocked drain led to the usual station exit being flooded.
We'll now continue to concentrate on maintenance of the railway and it's rolling stock. First task will be to clear the leaves from inside the track - the maples by the station provide welcome shade in 35c heat but also drop a massive volume of leaves. Unless we remove them, the grass underneath is covered and dies. We've now had 3 sessions of leaf clearing, hopefully the next one will be the last.
We've managed to reduce the impact of the rise in electricity prices - from next year we'll only(!) be paying three times what we were paying this year.
We hope to see everyone again next year - our first scheduled running day will be on the 26th March 2023 - the day the hour springs forward to British Summer Time.
November 2022
It's here again - the dark nights of November through to March.
We were reasonably lucky with Octobers weather - we lost just one complete scheduled days running but we did manage to open at 1pm on the 30th and saw quite a few passengers despite a poor forecast and rather a chilly breeze.
We will endeavour to open in November if we can, but the issue is that if the ground is soaking the station area is prone to flooding and if we need to remove passengers from a train in an emergency some of the cuttings are literally a mud slope.
Our new locomotive 'Queens Messenger' has been in service a few times but it will remain under cover if there's a chance of rain. Thats because some of the body mouldings aren't waterproof and it would be a real shame to have them disintegrate.
The Warship and Class 66 continue run as well as ever, and if you saw the Facebook post the Class 08 was pressed into action on track maintenance. It certainly beats walking round the track with a strimmer strapped to you...
We continue to run steam services when we have enough drivers; the appearance of steam is always well appreciated by our passengers. The Simplex loco that was under repair in the last newsletter has now been fixed thanks to the efforts of our 2 resident workshop members. Though in testing the pump repairs a failed gasket was found on the boiler sight gauge. Fortunately that was fixed with a new gasket on the day, even if it was rather hot!
We have also discovered that our electricity bill is likely to go up almost six times what this years bill was! As we are deemed a non residential user the Government price cap doesnt apply, so we are in the same boat as all other commercial users. Its a rather worrying trend, as the coal we use has also rocketed in price; however we do have some still in stock from this year.
We'll now concentrate on maintenance of the railway and it's rolling stock. First task will be to clear the leaves from inside the track - the maples by the station provide welcome shade in 35c heat but also drop a massive volume of leaves. Unless we remove them, the grass underneath is covered and dies. The first six hour marathon by the team has already taken place with more to come.
October 2022
The days are now fast drawing in, the dew is a daily occurrence and of course the leaves are starting to fall.
The September weather was kind to us and we didn't lose any Sunday running days. Our thanks to all those who come along and take rides with us, especially our frequent riders!
To commemorate the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, we acquired a new battery electric locomotive - a Class 67, specifically 67005 'Queens Messenger'. This is a model of the Royal Train locomotive in the Royal Claret livery, a very dark red. It's now had its maiden outing and will continue to be used for the rest of the season. Have a look at it in the Gallery.
As a result, the club Class 20 loco is now for sale - see our Facebook page for details of the advert.
The Warship has continued to run extremely well, and our main workhorse the Class 66 runs as well as ever. We continue to run steam services when we have enough drivers; the appearance of steam is always well appreciated by our passengers. They do prove maintenance heavy - we invariably find an issue after a running day. One members loco is currently inverted in the workshop as the axle pump (which is responsible for filling the boiler) decided its seals had had their day.
Don't forget we're open every Sunday between now and the 23rd October. If the weather is kind to us we might extend our season by a few weeks (as we did last year), but open and close an hour earlier. The fare remains at 50p per ride - and we now take cardless payments too, though there is a minimum of 2 rides per payment (£1).
September 2022
This summer during the school holidays we opened on Wednesdays which turned out to be a success, so many thanks to all of you who came and took a ride.
The Warship was pressed into service and the inevitable bug fixing began; but fortunately it's only minor issues so has become a smooth running marvel. It's probably now as powerful as our much newer Class 66 - not bad for a loco that's been rebuilt now for the 3rd time!
The weather was mostly kind to us in August, and we've been running steam services on most Sundays rotating 2 member owned locos and the clubs new to us this year 0-6-0 tank engine. We did opt out of steam on those 30c plus days - sitting behind a fire and in the draught of steam isn't as much fun!
Don't forget we're open every Sunday between now and the 23rd October. If the weather is kind to us we might extend our season by a few weeks (as we did last year), but open and close an hour earlier. Don't forget the fare remains at 50p per ride - and we now take cardless payments too, though there is a minimum of 2 rides per payment (£1).
August 2022
The Warship is back! Have a look at our Facebook page and take a drivers eye trip around the track.
https://fb.watch/eR_SiInoR5/
Our thanks to the club members whose efforts have made this possible; it's been quite a task. There is some snagging still do do but overall it's been pulling trains on a few days now without any issues.
The Wednesday opening proved popular on our first 2 afternoons - we do have some nice tree shade so if you have to wait more than a few minutes you're not going to overheat.
The Friends of Goffs Park event last month was quite a success, and we were very busy in conjunction with that.
This month brings the Crawley Pride event on the 21st - last year was a nice busy day as a result.
As ever, we'll be open between 2pm and 5pm each Sunday and the August Bank Holiday Monday - plus of course Wednesdays on the 3rd, 10th, 17th & 24th August with each ride just 50p - see you in Goffs Park!
July 2022
June was a bit of a mixed bag weather wise with the traditional English Bank Holiday weather dampening that day but thanks to everyone who continues to come along and have a ride.
Work continues on the Warship but it's looking a lot closer to completion; no dates as yet for it's return to service. It's been taking up all of our 2 volunteers time so the Simplex is very definitely on the back burner.
June 2022
May was a much quieter month for us as the weather hasn't been as nice as earlier in the year - we had one total washout, though we did have our busiest day of the year the weekend before!
We have been fortunate to run steam services most weekends using members locos alongside the club electric locos.
Work to repair the damage to the Warship continues in the background, as does the rebuild of the club black Simplex 0-6-0 steam loco. The decision has been made to pretty much start from scratch with the Warship - the complete drivetrain will be re-engineered and wired to suit the new modern electronic motor controller.
Our ability to take cards and cardless payments has proved popular and it's not caused us any problems so far as we get used to it.
May 2022
We've been mostly very fortunate with the weather so far this season and have seen plenty more visitors - several days have seen us sell over 500 tickets. Easter was a really nice weekend and we have been running our new club Simplex 0-6-0 steam loco.
An old club electric locomotive, the Warship class diesel hydraulic, was also returned to running condition after much work by the same 2 members who put so much effort into the Simplex.
Unfortunately all this effort was undone almost immediately by an adult riding on a train behind it. A modern problem we now suffer is people leaning out to take selfies - unfortunately this causes the carriage to tip which then instantly derails the train grinding it (and of course all on board) to a halt pretty much on the spot. Sure enough, this is exactly what happened and this caused the Warships electronic control board to literally burn out. It's not repairable so the Warship will now have to be completely rewired to use a modern control board - this is going to take a lot of time so the Warship remains sidelined once again for the foreseeable future. Such a shame for all involved in its rebuild.
So please, please, don't hang out for selfies. The incident above is only one of several derailments for this reason in this season so far.
On the good news trail again, we've invested in a card reader to take card and contactless payments. Please bear with us as we get to grips with this - the railway is in a bit of a poor signal area and it's a new system to us!
A home video of the railway taken in 1990 was posted recently to YouTube and was found by a member. The loco maker is a Dave Ticehurst who now lives in South Australia. It can be found here: youtu.be/n_VvSsh2ipo
April 2022
We're open for rides again!
We've been very fortunate with the weather so far and have seen plenty of visitors. Easter looks to be a really nice weekend and we hope to be running our new club loco.
The club acquired a (new to us) 0-6-0 Simplex loco at the end of March and 2 members have been very busy making it suitable for running on our track since then - a job we're very thankful to them for.
As ever, we'll be open between 2pm and 5pm each Sunday and Bank Holiday Mondays with each ride just 50p - see you in Goffs Park!
March 2022
We're all looking forwards to starting passenger running again on the 27th March - the day British Summer Time (BST) starts so don't forget to put your clocks forwards an hour on Saturday night.
The weather is looking good too, so we're all set for welcoming passengers in March for the first time in 2 years.
February 2022
Now the days are getting longer once again we're looking forwards to starting passenger running again on the 27th March on the day British Summer Time (BST) starts - which is coincidentally Mothers Day.
As ever, keep an eye on our Facebook page for on the day information - just because it's going to be Summer Time doesn't mean the English weather can take a hint...
November 2021
With the nights drawing in & the last remnants of summer gone it’s time for the railway to close for the winter. We had a great 2021 passenger running season albeit a short one after being closed for nearly two years; it was great to see so many of you & to bring smiles to faces again.
We were lucky that the weather allowed us to extend the season by a few weekends to try and make up for a very late start.
We will be doing maintenance work over the closed season so that we are ready for the 2022 passenger running season which will start next April all being well.
We hope you have a great festive period & we look forward to seeing you again next year.
REOPENING Sunday AUGUST 22nd!
15/08/2021
With local infection rates moving in the right direction for once we feel safer re-opening to the general public. We will therefore be open on Sunday 22nd of August for the first time in over 20 months, the re-opening will be on a trial basis with the hope that all goes well & we can remain open for the rest of the 2021 summer.
Our service will be as was normal before the pandemic & our hours will be the usual 2pm to 5pm. We hope to see you soon.
Summer is here (sort of) But the news is uncertain !
23/07/2021
Hello & welcome,
Summer has been a strange one again this year, we saw all the COVID numbers come down & it all looked very positive but just as the talk of the rules being relaxed came so did the resurgence of the virus in the form of a new variant.
The weather has also played it’s part in making the summer of 21 an uncertain one.
As i write it is warm & sunny but the forecast is showing a week of very unsettled weather ahead.
as for the railway, both the aforementioned points are taking their toll on operations, from a legal position, we could open on the 25th & we have had a small community group attend a closed private running session which went very well after a difficult start.
For now though, we are going to remain closed to the public, just until the infection rate settles or drops & hopefully by then the weather will also have settled in to something that resembles summer.
keep an eye on the Facebook page for future updates.
Will Grant, Secretary & Treasurer For The Crawley Model Engineers.
Spring has almost sprung so what is happening at the railway & when will it re-open?
10/05/2021
Hello, readers.
The next phase of the lockdown restrictions relaxation is on the 17th of May, one week after i write this update. It seems that social distancing between strangers will still be in place after this next phase, this sadly means we still cannot re-open to the public. The one metre rule with strangers basically means only groups of friends or family could ride on the same train but it would be impossible to mix people together. As this would effectively exclude a lot of children from being able to ride the train we don’t feel it would be fair to open until we can run as normal.
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21/04/2021
We are currently working very hard towards re-opening the railway after the next relaxation of lockdown restrictions which will be stage three - due no earlier than 17 May.
We are looking to open on the following Sunday 23rd.
This will be confirmed nearer the time once the government releases more details
02/04/2021
Happy Easter !
Toward the end of last year we were working out on the track, replacing old worn out rails, screws & sleepers. The work came to a premature end due to the weather which left a section of track missing for almost three spans. This week we had a welcome spell of warm sunny weather & we were able to finish off what was started last year. .
The biggest single question we get is "when will you be running the trains again?" & the simple answer to this is when stage three of the governments roadmap is implemented, & the current earliest date for this to happen is after May 17th, We are however awaiting guidance on this date. The next stage after that will be implemented at the earliest date of June 21st when all restrictions are scheduled to be relaxed.
When we know for sure we will post details online.
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Autumn & winter closed season, what's happening at the Goffs Park Light Railway?
01/01/2021
Happy New Year !
To finish off what has to be the strangest year in living memory, many of us celebrated a strange Christmas alone at home. Who knew that this COVID pandemic would drag on for the whole of 2020 & continue in to 2021 ? With the new strain taking a hold, especially in the south east of the country, it seems we are far from leaving this situation behind us ! We all hope that the situation subsides very soon though so we can all get back to our normal lives & our members can get back to running the railway for people who visit the park. Our club membership is still very low & we would very much love for you to get involved, no specific skills are needed, just being able to work as a team is the only actual skill required, the rest can be learned.
Drop us a message using the "contact us" link above if you are interested. Also if you have any old tools that you don't want or use, they would always be very much appreciated along with basic building materials, wood & even some metals like thin sheet aluminium.
Will Grant,
Club Secretary.
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21/10/2020
Hi All ! Here is a quick update from us regarding the current situation of the club.
It gives us no pleasure at all to say that we are now at the end of what would have been the 2020 season of public operation of our miniature railway without having been able to open. It is a matter of great regret that we find ourselves in this situation, but as you know & understand, it is beyond our control & we sincerely hope that we will be able to run as normal next year.
Assuming that a further lockdown does not prevent us, you may see club members at the track site some days whilst you are enjoying the park, this is because we need to maintain the track & equipment to keep it in useable condition, as a voluntary working group at the site we are not bound by the rule of six but we are still doing all we can to keep ourselves safe, Please do come & have a chat while keeping the necessary 2 metre distance. We will be happy to keep you updated.
On behalf of the Crawley Model Engineers & all of its members, I would like to thank you all for your continued support & understanding in these difficult times & we look forward to welcoming you all back as soon as we are able.
Our grateful thanks also goes to our local council parks & gardens workforce who maintain the area in & around Goffs Park.
Will Grant,
Club Secretary.
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Over the autumn & winter the few members we have will be working in small groups to perform maintenance to the track & rolling stock, in addition to these works there will be a perimeter fence being erected around the railway site by the local council, over the years we have been victim to much petty vandalism, littering & other unwanted illicit activities so the fence will hopefully reduce this & add a much high level of safety to the public, the passengers & volunteers.
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Longer term for the Goffs Park Light Railway & possibly the more serious issue than the pandemic is that is we just don't have the able bodied, enthusiastic members to maintain the railway to a safe standard, we have a few members that can just about open up the railway on a Sunday afternoon but only a tiny few that can get on the tools & maintain or repair the track, infrastructure & the rolling stock.
If you or anyone you know might be interested, don't be shy, we are not a bunch of weirdos or nerds ! We are just normal people with an interest in trains & engineering, the train track has been in the park & giving rides to the public for nearly SIXTY years so please, we are not asking for your money just for you to think about joining us so we can keep the railway running for many many more years to come.
Please watch this page or our Facebook page for updates.
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General information
Anyone who may be interested in volunteering to help run & maintain the Goffs Park Light Railway will be welcomed, a small membership fee is applicable to cover the club's insurance.
Anyone wishing to join with a steam locomotive will be required to produce a valid steam boiler safety certificate from a recognised testing authority, un-certified locomotives owned by members can be tested on appointment, this will involve a hydraulic pressure test & a steam safety valve test.
If interested please drop us a line via the Contact Us form.
Page last updated May 2024
Copyright © 2006-2024, CME CIC
Copyright © 2006-2024, CME CIC