The Railway had 11 public operating/open days during 2005. These included two Coal Train Days, 3 Santa Special Days and 4 days as part of the National Heritage Open Day scheme.
As an added attraction for our Coal Train Days we were kindly loaned a Sentinel vertical boilered loco from Embsay Steam Railway. This loco stayed at Springwell from June until October with a brief weekend away in early September supporting the Shildon Locomotion 1st Anniversary Open Weekend.
For four days in early September the site was opened free of charge to the public as part of the National Heritage Open Day scheme. This once again proved to be a success with a number of out of region visitors taking the opportunity to visit the Railway.
In December the Railway ran three Santa Special events, building on the successes of 2004 when Bowes was voted best Christmas event in the region. The interval between trains was increased to 45 minutes to reduce the waiting time for customers in Santa's Grotto.
Live operating in 2006 will be severely limited because of the track renewal campaign. Nevertheless, special events are being planned for the autumn and, as always, the Springwell site is open for casual visitors to call in view the facilities.
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This page last updated 7th April 2006 |