I think it is fair to say that today will not go down in the history of the station as a super busy one.

First thing we had the civils arrive for a day of action on the Fletton loop, here is a picture of one of the crack team awaiting the starters gun.

As you can see he was like a coiled spring awaiting release, he staggered into action as the civils train arrived with the rest of the railways crack track team.

As always they were using a class 14 diesel shown above about to do a bit of shunting prior to the start of the hard work. Once the excitement was over the station staff comprising of myself and Paddy, who was my side kick for the day awaited the first service.

Looking on the bright side at least it was steam and here it is arriving. The fact that this is a picture of it doing second service and not the first is neither here nor there.

We had a slow stream of passengers, the fact that the first ones of the day had got lost looking for the city centre station mattered not a jot as we relieved them of ticket money.

I took a couple of magazines and Paddy a book so we had something to read in between the short bursts of excitement. Plus between us we came up with various theories as the road to the Mere now has double yellow lines along it. The way things are going what with the new double lines, the car park barrier and footpath bollard, not of course forgetting the shut toilets, the best way to get to the station will shortly be by bike towing a commode and a roll of bog paper. then doing a limbo dance under the barrier.

Just looked at the forecast for tomorrow, it will be cold and bright, lets hope it brings a few people out to discover how darn hard it is now to park and that then come and spend money.

Nathan is with me tomorrow and no doubt he will be zooming round like a terrier on steroids!!!

To the regular readers of this blog, and you both know who you are!! You must cast your minds back to my Saturday posting reference the deep pockets and sneaky tactics of the civils.

Well the following has been received….

Robert:

Relevant extract to which I refer………

“On a brighter note we had the civils working just of the end of the platform on the Fletton loop, They are staring to worry me as they are becoming sneaky and not coming down to use the loo and therefore submitting themselves to my tactics at getting them to spend money, I am going to have to refine my methods I think!   “

If Mohammed (Manns) won’t come to the mountain, then the mountain must go to Mohammed (Manns). I recommend a meals on wheels trolley, and Nathan or who-ever your beautiful assistant is for the day propels said loaded trolley to the east end of plat 1 and engages aforementioned Civils in polite and engaging sales patter-style conversation.

Please note that most tactfully and respectfully, I am not referring to your good self as the mountain!   Nor am I expecting a polite and sincere response! 

Cheers

Keith

Never being one to ignore advice from a greater being or in this case one of the tribe known as S&T a uniform is on order for Nathan or his understudy together with some thermals as it’s starting to get a bit Parkie (Hint as to the Fan) down at Orton Mere.

As for the trolley to be used, I have consulted with the financial powers at the railway and have been promised a pair of second hand roller skates from the chap who looks after the accounts and a reject tea try from the cafe. Still as anybody knows on the railway we make do with what we have, even if that is nothing!!!!

Pictures of Nathan or his understudy will appear in the caption competition shortly.

Well not a bad day overall today, still on the cold side like yesterday but in the afternoon we had a steady but slow flow of customers to produce a respectable total with both tickets and shop.

Young Nathan with me today and he worked well, let him sell a few tickets and next week will show him how to cash up the tickets as well, it’s all part of the learning process.

Some regulars as well today though not as many as we would have liked, and with just two weekends to go they will soon be in hibernation.

Next running day is next Saturday and with a Yellow service we should have a nice early finish.

Well had Susan with me today from City Centre, and we had a quiet day, first day that’s felt cold as well and with a clear night ahead it could be more of the same tomorrow.

Anyway the day kicked off with a woman coming through the open gate onto the platform and slamming it shut and pushing the latch across with some force. I greeted her as I walked past her and opened the gate again, pointing out we were open and we did not have the gate shut. She muttered something about not wanting her dog on the platform (It was nowhere to be seen) walked past me and slammed the gate shut again. Rudeness like this is something I will not stand for so I opened the gate again, she stormed out shutting the gate yet again, still no sign of the alleged dog. I once again opened the gate and put it in it’s normal position. Then a chap who I presume was her husband appeared on a bike. If I am correct and the poor sod is her husband then he has my deepest sympathy. They exchanged a few words, he rode over shut the gate and they rode off on their bikes. Now I can understand somebody being worried about their dog, which I hasten to add was not seen by me during this exchange, but to do what she did and in the way she did it is nothing but rude, and the action by the man at the end is nothing short of childish. I am sorry to say the above was the highlight of the day.

On a brighter note we had the civils working just of the end of the platform on the Fletton loop, They are staring to worry me as they are becoming sneaky and not coming down to use the loo and therefore submitting themselves to my tactics at getting them to spend money, I am going to have to refine my methods I think!

So there you have it a cold sunny quiet day, with more of the same promised for tomorrow, oh the excitement we go through.

Lovely day today weather wise, wall to all sunshine.

Had Stephen and Nathan with me today, rather like buy one get one free!!

Steady through the day but not over busy. It got quite warm just after 3pm as we were closing and I am sure if we had been running services a bit later we would have taken some money. But you can’t guarantee the weather and we had just three services running each way.

Some really nice people in today, despite the city having it’s half marathon on today people were still about when we left for home.

We did have one gentleman comment that it got dark in the evening which livened up the conversation as he got award of the day for stating the obvious.

Next weekend sees a green service with four each way plus the TPO in action, you just watch it rain!!!

It was quiet today and felt cold as well, autumn is with us at Orton Mere.

Did a few tickets but nothing to really shout about to be honest.

The web browser on the Smartphone got some use today to relieve the boredom as did the email client.

Not one of the best days but by no means the worst we will see what tomorrow brings.

Sitting here in the office today doing all the small jobs I have been putting off for ages I was thinking back to a few gems from the past year that I had forgotten to put in the blog. So let’s correct that now….

In no particular order, a few that remind me how important care in the community really is….

A Sunday morning, I was open and waiting for whoever was with me to arrive when a chap and his wife walked in. He uttered the three words guaranteed to get him off on the wrong foot… “Cup of tea” no please kiss my rear end or anything.  When I produced the cup of tea he thrust a £20 note at me and snorted “Change this” again no please or similar show of manners. So I opened the till took out another £20 note and put his in. “There we are” I said “I have changed it for you, that will be 80p please”. His wife cracked up and went outside to sit on one of the benches, he meantime went bright red and produced a pound coin. He got his change as ten 2pence pieces and went on his way. It did not help him in as much as we could hear his wife outside laughing her head off very loudly.

Wet rainy Wednesday and I was standing behind the counter with a steaming hot cup of coffee, woman walked in and uttered the immortal words “Where in the park can I buy a coffee?”. I could not resist it I directed her to the cafe at the water sports centre a mile or so away!!

Chap one Saturday asked if he got a discount on tickets as he worked in the booking office at the main station in Peterborough, when the answer was no he rattled on about how he should. So I mentioned that the next week the wife and I were off to Devon by train and would he give us discount on those tickets. A resounding NO was the answer, so I pointed out that could be the reason why he did not get a discount either!!

Finally the Friday of the diesel gala, Paddy, Jason and I were on the platform with a diesel approaching, doors of the station building open and all the lights on. Chap came on the platform asked if we were open and if the trains were running!! Yes was the answer to both questions, he grunted and walked off not buying anything and not looking at the train either.

So there you have it four gems I had previously missed but when remembered I thought they were too good not to share.

Those who work at Orton Mere will know that last Friday I changed broadband suppliers, not the ideal day being the first day of the three day gala, but could not be helped. Anyway it gave Paddy a taste of power running the station and to celebrate he even put his Railway tie on.

Anyway, for those interested, which in all possibility is actually just me the move from O2 to BT went without a hitch. Over half a dozen texts and emails from O2 asking what they could do to make me stay, however in all bits of communication from them the onus was on me to phone them, not in my mind the right way to do it. If you really want to keep a customer you call them rather than expect them to call you.

But BT is touch wood up and running a tad faster than O2 did, plus I have a nice shiny router and VOIP hub phone to play with.

The new railway website is coming along, but I must admit I am not 100% happy and may, before it’s too late and too much is written, scrap what I have done and start again from scratch. For some reason I have yet to work out I am not happy with the design, it is not flowing as I want it to, and if I am not happy then I will not hand it over to the railway until I am. Watch this space as they say.

In answer to a few emails, no you can’t have a sneak peak. There are a few select people who are providing feedback and they are the only ones with access to what’s been done so far, so you will have to have patience and wait. However, if you would like to see something on the new site that is not on the present one them please feel free to email me your idea and I will give it serious consideration.

Today was the third and final day of the diesel gala and to call it wet and dismal would be an understatement.

But considering the weather we had decent visitor numbers. I was at Ferry Meadows today with my wise Sue and also Meg, plus for a period Nathan as he helped at all stations when and where needed.

Generally some really nice people today and the only thing that comes to mind was the first ticket sale of the day, he was put out because we were doing paper tickets and for some strange reason he was concerned it would get wet and he would rather have had a cardboard ticket! Sue pointed out that the only time he would need to show the ticket was on the train and there it was dry!!

Except for a hiccup towards the end when the class 50 failed services ran on time and the visitors hopefully all got the pictures they wanted, even though the day was not ideal for photography.

My collection from the weekend can be seen at www.nvrpics.org.uk not happy with some of them but the passengers had to come first over my picture taking.

No services now until next Saturday and I plan to really buckle down to the new railway website over the coming days.

Second day of the diesel gala today and you just know it will be one of those days when somebody comes in at 7am for a bottle of water and asks if you sell newspapers and swears blind he has bought one there before.

Steady day customer wise and had Sally and Nigel with me, they are solo at Orton Mere tomorrow as Sue and I are looking after Ferry Meadows.

The first train of the day bought the first of the diesel sniffers, and true to form the majority were weird and wonderful and not of this planet!

Just 50% have the social skills to say please and the other 50% just grunt.

Here they are gathered at the end of platform 1 to photograph the locomotive coming the other way. When the train stops they run down the platform, jostle for position to take the picture then when the train is safely in platform 2 they run to get back on the train again. When I say run, I do use the term loosely, some walk fast and others do the waddle of a constipated duck. But they are happy they have a picture.

Timetables are studied with great concentration as they work out what’s next and where to photograph it from.

As with Friday the Western was the great draw. Here it is approaching platform 1 from city centre.

There were tears in one blokes eye, but that could have been due to what he had just been charged for an ice cream and a coffee!

Desperate for a bit of excitement I caught the train to Wansford, I should have known better. I was subjected to the lesser spotted diesel sniffer in his native environment. it was like sitting in a loonies mobile convention. Gem of the trip was to hear one chap mutter to his mate as we pulled into Wansford the immortal words “Is this a station?”

Early on in the morning  the Class 66 arrived and was put on the front of the second service to Wansford, to look at the excitement in the eyes of the diesel sniffers you could be mistaken for thinking you were witnessing the second coming.

There it is on platform 1 just after arrival.

More of this excitement tomorrow, heavy rain forecast, but we will no doubt cope.