Electrical volunteer turned steward Saturday 05-09- 2020.
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2020 11:13 am
This weekend the traction for steam was BR Standard 4 80097 and for the diesel it was the turn of Class 33, 33109 Captain Bill Smith, after being briefed on our duties for the day we picked up our cleaning boxes and allocated ourselves a carriage to steward for the day.
The weather forecast was not too bad with sunshine and showers forecast, which again turned out to be more or less accurate.
Today i was steward on the first compartment carriage the stock had been reduced from the seven carriages of last weekend, to five carriages probably due to the schools starting their new terms this week.
The train left on time at 10:00 arriving back in BBS at about 11:30, time for a coffee and a bit of lunch, the 12:30 train left again on time, this is usually the busiest train of the day and so it turned out to be.
This weekend the diesel train would work from Bury Bolton Street Station to Heywood Station then back to BBS and onto Ramsbottom Station before returning to BBS, to add a bit more variation, before hopefully not too long the railway returns to normal two train working at weekends.
The trains could do with a few more paying customers in the coming weeks to generate more income, a good idea was to include a refreshment trolley on the steam service which also generated additional income for the railway.
The usual cleaning of door handles, tables etc. on the carriages etc. took place at Rawtenstall Station and BBS, whilst awaiting the next departure times.
The final train to Rawtenstall left at 15:00 hours and arrived back in Bury Bolton Street Station at 16:40 hours another good day spent at the ELR with all the passengers saying they had a good safe day.