This weekend has been quiet, we did check for a pulse on a regular basis and I am pleased there is no sign of death.

With a few local things going on a lot of my regulars were otherwise engaged, ticket sales were nothing to even whisper about.

Shop performed as expected.

To add to the excitement we even saw the sun a few times and here is a picture to prove it, taken today.

So we will await next weekend and see if we can use it as a dummy run for the special Thomas weekend the week after.

We have just had one of those weekends where to call it average would be paying it a complement.
Cris and Paddy were with me on Saturday whilst Sunday saw Jason with me and Rosemary doing more excellent things in the garden.

Neither day could be called exactly busy, and whilst we sold tickets the shop/cafe was quiet.
The weather was not really on our side but looking on the bright side at least the wind on Sunday was warmer.

I always judge how busy we have been by how much charge is left in the battery of my iPad, and on both days there was not much.
Short of praying to the weather gods I don’t really know the answer, certainly the coldest spring for around 50 years is turning into the most dismal summer, at least on running days. All we can do of course is make the best of what we have and make sure what passengers/customers we do have receive good service and go away wanting to vosot again sometime in the future.

Over the next few months we have some really excellent special weekends coming up and hopefully they will be well attended and the sun will shine.

I will be opening this Wednesday which is unusual for me but we must get money into the till when we can, but weekday opening is never too successful at my station, it’s easier for people to park in the main part of Nene Park where in the week the parking is free. So we shall await Wednesday and see what it brings.

Well today started yesterday.

I will explain. It’s normal for me to check a day or so before that people are still available to do their cover they offered for the station.

Well I sent a text to a certain volunteer, who I won’t embarrass by telling you it was Nathan confirming he was still available for today (Sunday) the answer I got back was just a tad more than four letters and a couple of exclamation marks.

He had forgotten he was down for the station, now this is not a cause for panic as it can happen, so we started to look for cover. But young Nathan had decided that he would right a wrong.  After all he had made a mistake and instead of a super day at the station he was off to Clacton.

The result was Jason was pressganged into providing cover for part of today and I also roped in Peter & Susan. All in all it was quite a party atmosphere at the station we were just missing the streamers, funny hats and a cake, by the way Nathan you owe all in attendance an ice cream!!

So with the excitement of staff movements (No rude jokes please!) the stage was set for hopefully a decent Sunday. I mean the sun was shining, the birds were twittering and all was well with the world. We even had a steam service.

But it almost happened but not quite, how can I describe the day? Well it was like going out for a 4 course meal, finding the restaurant shut and ending up in the chip shop. They came and they spent, not many and not much. But there we are, we made the best of what we had and a decent day was had by all. Some really nice customers and also it must be said some very well mannered children, they are a rarity these days.

So what could have been a disaster bought on by a blond moment from The Clacton Cowboy, ended up a most pleasant day. My thanks to Jason, Peter & Susan for stepping in at short notice, and also to The Clacton Cowboy who admitted his mistake and in credit to him made every effort to get it sorted. The bill by the way Nathan for the ice cream is £4.90p I hope you did not spend all your change on the Clacton fruit machines.

Today was one of those days where you wondered if everybody had decided to have a lie in.

Shall we say it was quiet, the weather was nothing to get excited about and there were few people about.

However, with one exception all the people we had in were really nice and being quiet we could have a natter with them.

But mention must be made of our exception. He came in with his wife and uttered four words “Ice cream and toilets.”

He was pointed in the direction of the ice creams and informed that there were no public toilets. His wife replied that there were as the guide book said so. I never did catch a glimpse of this illusive guide book. Once again I repeated there were no public toilets. He then chipped in thay the the sign outside said there were. By this time he was starting to irritate me and it takes lot to do that So I just replied “It doesn’t.”

Out he went with the wife trailing behind to have a look and hopefully prove me wrong no doubt.

When he did not return I strolled out in time to see them walking away from the station and across the foot crossing towards the river. Now everybody makes mistakes and he could have easily come in admitted he misread the sign and that would have been then end of it, they could have bought their ice creams and all would be well with the world. Instead he chose to wander off and say nothing. As they say it takes all sorts.

We will see what excitement Sunday brings.

Today Sue my wife took a trip to the big station and visited Thomas.

Though I should point out she has spent more time raving about the excellent food in the cafe as she described it rather than the little blue engine.

Regretfully there are no pictures of the food in question, this I think is due to the fact that she did not have a fast enough shutter speed on her camera to capture it before she ate it.

Anyway here are a few pictures Sue took at Wansford and Yarwell including of course pictures of Thomas and the Diesel that ran the main services all day.

Whilst the wife was having all this excitement I was at my station as normal, today I had Nathan helping me. Rosemary came to do some more of the garden and received numerous complements from the visitors.

However, as Rosemary rightly points out praise must also be given to Trevor one of the civils team who cuts and maintains the grass, his efforts complement the work Rosemary puts in she is quick to inform me. Certainly the garden is looking really nice this year and is a credit to the station. When I am next at the station I will take some pictures and do a special blog entry all about the garden this year.

At the station the day could best be described as steady, although a Bank Holiday Monday, many people were at work rather than being off but we were steady business wise and had some really nice visitors to chat and natter to.

It’s been a good three days at the station and my thanks to all who have played their part.  Rain is forecast tomorrow which is a shame as we are running servies for the next three days.

I had a day off from the railway today, Peter and Susan kindly ran the station for me.

Peter reported a good day with a fair number of people about.

The weather always plays an important part in the success or failure of any trading day at the station.

If it’s wet and cold we can be dead all day, but surprisingly we can be just as quiet if the weather is really hot, because then the locals all head for the coast and the fleshpots of Skegness and Hunstanton.

So what we like is it to be just nice and warm enough for a walk round the park but not warm enough to tempt people to the coast.

Technical stuff this running a station.

Tomorrow I have young Nathan with me, he does not do many turns but when he does he is always keen and a pleasure to work with. So we will now see what tomorrow brings.

Today was one of those days that was steady but not able to impress.

Business wise we were steady and as I expected for the day. But one thing was noticeable and that was we had some really nice people in today both travelling and just walking past.

Nigerl & Sally were with me for the first time this year and it was as always a pleasure to do a day with them. Peter H who has not been down for some time also put in a few hours which was very nice as well. Rosemary as always plodded along in the garden which is really looking nice this year.

Trains ran almost to time which just added to the pleasure of the day.. But being a bank holiday I would have hoped we would have been a tad busier, but all things considered I was very happy with today.

Tomorrow I am actually having a running day off. Peter and his daughter Susan are running the station, so I get a lie in, lunch at lunch time and if the weather is OK a day pottering in the garden.

BLISS!!!!!!

But back in action at the station on Bank Holiday Monday.

Well that’s the second day of the diesel gala over and done with, and I must admit I enjoyed it.

Diesel fans are not known generally for their manners, but this weekend we had some real nice people in, and both Saturday and Sunday were most enjoyable.

On Saturday Peter & Susan helped me and on Sunday Jason and my wife Sue. In total I did around 23 hours both days combined, hence the title of the blog.

Now I have seen busier gala weekends, but there were enough people to keep us busy.

We sold drinks both hot and cold and today (Sunday) lot’s of ice cream.

Here in no particular order are some of the pictures I took this weekend, none are great masterpieces but I hope they will give a flavour of what was running on both days.

As you will see from the pictures above the weather was not always sunshine, but Sunday was the better of the two days.

Gala weekends are important events for the railway as they bring in income and hopefully at the end of it some profit.

Now this weekend will not be claimed by anybody to be a record breaker, but it was enjoyed apparently by those who attended, certainly the people I spoke to enjoyed themselves. Hopefully this means they will return for the autumn Diesel gala.

A few days ahead now to get back to normal and recover.

My thanks to Sue, Susan, Peter and Jason for helping me, we could not have done the weekend without you all.

Today was the first day of the spring diesel gala.

Now I must admit I enjoyed today, I had Peter & Susan with me, and the day went well.

Not one problem, not one idiot, just nice customers and all in all a pleasant day.

The weather was nothing special, dull except for some sunshine at the end of the day. Trade was steady nothing exceptional though.

Full report with pictures hopefully from both days tomorrow.

All excitement today, it’s the day of the Thomas Big Adventure. Here is a picture of him going through my station on his way back to Wansford.

The people in the coaches certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. As always the special was sold out a few weeks in advance.

For the main service we have a class 31 pulling it and here is a picture of it running round as the second service terminated with me.

Quieter today than yesterday both shop and passenger wise, but the weather although dry today for the big adventure was cool and that never helps.

Derrick kindly fitted a phone socket this morning. (Happy now Derrick?) he has commented that he was not mentioned, so here we have corrected that terrible error!!

The day ended weather wise dismal and wet, so a quiet last train.

Next week sees the diesel gala, so hopefully the weather will be kind and the trains busy.