Monday - Back At The Shops & A Little Bit Of Family History

On my way to Sheringham station, I stopped into the library to see if they had the Letheringsett history book written in 1959 by Lord Basil Couzens-Hardy. This book is a reprint of the diaries kept by his great-great........-great grandmother from 1759 to 1819 and contains extracts on the death of my great-great-great grandfather, Stephen Moore, in 1801; their farm labourers at various periods of time, including the Moores; and the location of the residences around their main farm on Blakeney Road. This is where my ancestors lived right up until my great grandfather, Edmund Moore, left Letheringsett in 1858 to make his fortune in London Town.

Their copy was shown as “missing” but there were several copies in other libraries including quite a few in the Holt library which is only one mile from Letheringsett.  The librarian made arrangements to have a copy sent to them which I could borrow. From there, I can scan the necessary information.

I then made my way up to Sheringham station to be greeted, once again, by my 0-6-2T GWR tank engine waiting to start its 10:30 trip up to Holt.  There were two classes of young school children who were on a railway outing up to Holt where they would hold classes about World War II and what conditions were like during that period of time for young people.   Steam preservation railways have at least one or two “1940s days” where they recreate the conditions of the World War II, complete with soldiers in period uniforms, rifles, gas masks and vehicles of the era, including tanks, personnel carriers, and the like. The NNR has linked up with a vintage bus group which provides transportation between stations and into the nearby towns.

I continued finishing some painting on the M&GN brake van so I won’t bore you all with the rest of the details. Instead, I will provide you with some Moore family history.

Moore Family
In the mid to late 1970s, my father had managed to trace the family roots from his father, who emigrated to Canada in 1895 from London to his grandfather, Edmund Moore who lived around the corner from St Paul’s Cathedral, back to the little village of Letheringsett where Edmund Moore was born. From there, he managed to get the family tree back to his great-grandfather, Matthew Moore, and his great grandmother, Elizabeth Gidney, his great-great grandfather, Stephen Moore, who was killed by a chunk of clay on November 1st, 1804, and his great-great grandmother, Sarah Page. He found that his great-great--great grandfather was Mark Moore and his great-great-great grandmother was Mary Moore. From there, the history was very sketchy as he didn’t have access to the Internet resources as we have today. While I have been able to find a lot of information on the information, it has to be verified by examining the actual records which I hope to do June 2-3 at the county records in Norwich.

My father was able to determine that his grandfather lived around the corner from St Paul’s Cathedral up until 1871. He was able to locate a painting of their residence at #9 St Andrew’s Hill and obtained a black-and-white photograph of the painting. In 1999 with access to the Guildhall Library’s website, I was able to get colour prints of this painting plus another painting showing the same location (the Guildhall Library is the civic archives for the City of London)..

In 2004, I spent 6 days in London on our way to and from Ghana (3 +3) which included a visit to the London Guildhall Library where I was able to view these two water colours, plus a 3rd which showed the back of their residence. I also was able to find a detailed outline of the area through the insurance maps of the area. Insurance maps, as the names imply, were ordered by fire insurance companies to detail where they had insured properties in case of large-scale fire. They are invaluable in doing historic research.


After 1871, my father lost track of where Edmund Moore lived. Since then, through on-line access to census records, birth-marriage-death records, I have been able to find Edmund Moore’s residences with each of the 10-year census up to 1901 (the 1911 census won’t be released to the public until 2011).

So, that's a little bit of the Moore family history.  If you are interested, it's all being recorded on www.ancestry.co.uk.  You will need a special invitation from me to look at the family trees. 

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Pilgrimage To Letheringsett - The Moore Family Roots

After a leisurely breakfast at Camberley House I walked to NNR’s Sheringham station in time to catch the 10:30 train to Holt.  My 0-6-2T GWR tank engine, #5619, was on the front.  It was a cool breezy cloudy day with the clouds getting darker and threatening to rain.  On the way up, I saw a freighter on the horizon in the North Sea making its way to King’s Lynn or to other ports west.  Pheasants with bright red heads were in the fields and bushes.  The “chuffa-chuffa, chuffa-chuffa” of the engine as it climbed up the 1.3% grade to Weybourne and Holt had attracted the railfans and gawkers alongside the fences to take their photographs as the train went by. 

Arriving at Holt Station on the eastern edge of Holt proper for 11:00, I started walking down the countryside sidewalk to Holt.  On the eastern edge of Holt is Gresham’s Preparatory School, established in 1555.  It dominates this part of the village with its old buildings mixed in with its new glass and steel ones.  A concrete walkway goes over the top of the road so that the students don’t have to walk on the road.  In North America, we would install a high chain link fence to make sure the students didn’t take shortcuts across the road.  At Gresham’s, they had planted hedges.

As I walked along looking towards the Glaven River valley with the little village of Letheringsett nestled down below, I couldn’t help but wonder the number of times that my forebears, Edmund Moore (great-grandfather), Matthew Moore (great-great grandfather), Stephen Moore (great-great-great grandfather), Mark Moore (great-great-great-great grandfather), their wives and their children, had walked Letheringsett Hill.  In particular I wondered how Edmund Moore felt walking this hill in 1852 leaving Letheringsett to make his way to London.  A bit too philosophical a thought, perhaps, but I couldn’t help but wonder. 

My great-great-great grandfather, Stephen Moore, was killed November 1st, 1804, by a “marl of clay” while working in a small clay pit.  He had shovelled the lump out of the bottom of the pit but didn’t throw it out far enough.  It fell back into the pit, hitting him on the head, and crushing his skull.  He was buried 3 days later on November 4th 1804.  While the pit hole wasn’t overly deep - perhaps 10’-12’ - one has to consider the composition of the lump.  The soils in Norfolk are full of flint stones the size of baseballs and softballs.  Nothing ever goes to waste around here.  You can see these excavated flint stones mortared into the brick walls that line the properties - walls that are taller than you can reach to walls that are only waist high.  I learned about these flint stones in the clay in conversation last night with Brian from Sheringham.  The light bulb went on.  There must have been one (or several) large flint stones in that marl of clay to crush Stephen Moore’s skull! 

By 12 noon, I had walked through the centre of Holt, down Letheringsett Hill and was sitting in the King’s Head pub in Letheringsett drinking a ginger beer (non-alcoholic), eating a shrimp-and-prawn baguette, finishing up with a warm (I ordered it cold) brownie and ice cream with drizzled strawberry sauce, all the while writing up the first part of today's blog.  

The distance from Holt to Letheringsett is about 2 miles with a paved pathway alongside the road all the way through the countryside - very civilized these English, they are.

After lunch , I walked down Blakeney Road trying to find #36.  The 1851 census showed my great-great grandparents, Matthew and Elizabeth (nee Gidney) Moore living at #36.  Finding old residences can be quite a task as houses are constantly being renumbered over the centuries and decades, in addition to being demolished, renovated and moved.  This challenge was no exception.  I quickly located #35 going north and proceeded to try and find #36.  #34...., #33....., #32....., #31...... , #30......, the Home Farm.  

 I turned around and went back to #35.  Where #36 should have been stood half a low garden shed or garage.  Peering through the hedgerow, it appeared that #36 had been demolished - if indeed this was the #36 shown in the census. 

 The woman in #32 asked me what I was doing.  This was the start of a conversation that indicated the buildings had indeed been demolished.  I made my way back to the centre of the village and entered St Andrew’s Church of England.  It was here that the Moore’s were baptized, married, and buried. 

Or were they - buried here?  They were definitely baptized, married, with the burial service taking place here but were they buried here?

Going outside, I walked around the church graveyard looking for their gravestones.  The only Moore with a grave stone was a recent burial.  Being farm labourers, it would have been next to impossible for them to afford a grave stone - assuming they were buried in this graveyard.  At this point, David Mayes of #2 Church Cottage on Holt Lane, Letheringsett came out asking me who I was looking for.  In our conversations, he brought out the book published by Lord Cousens-Hardy in 1959 which contained the diaries of his forebears.  It is in this book that the death of Stephen Moore is recounted.  Dad had acquired a copy in the 1970s which is still in family possession.  The book lists the names and addresses of the farm labourers, along with location maps which I will have to verify when I get back home.  He then mentioned that there was another graveyard down Blakeney Road just beyond #36.  So it may be here that Stephen Moore and Sarah Page, Matthew Moore and Elizabeth Gidney are buried. 

By this time it was after 3pm.  The sun had come out, the breeze wasn’t as cooling, and it was time to head back to Holt station in time to catch the last train.  I stopped in for a tall ginger beer (non-alcoholic) at the King’s head, and wrote up the continuation of today’s blog.  Then it was 3:45 and time to hike back to Holt and Holt Station - uphill all the way - to arrive at 4:40 to find an empty station platform and everything closed.  It took a few minutes for me to figure out that I had missed the train by  minutes, but there was another train - the last train - arriving at 5:25 and leaving at 5:39.  I sat down on one of the benches and started to read the history booklets that I had picked up at St Andrew’s Church in Letheringsett. 

The train arrived on schedule.  I climbed aboard the first of the 1st-class-coaches and sank deeply into the well-upholstered seat.  It would be a question of whether I would be able to get out of the seat upon arriving in Sheringham.  As we travelled along the line back to Sheringham, I could see a handful of barges loaded with intermodal containers moving in and out of the ports of The Wash. 

Debarking from the train at Sheringham, I walked down Station Road to “The Lobster” to see if they had any lobsters.  Answering in the positive, I sat down with a pint of Abbot’s, my glass of ice, and my history booklets, sipping on the ale and waiting for my lobster thermidor to arrive.  Delicious it was so I had an extra pint for dessert.  Finishing up dessert, I made my way back to Camberley House in time to update the blog. But the router had been moved back to their quarters so I couldn't access the Internet.  Instead, I soaked my poor feet in a long hot bath.  Tomorrow is another day.  

A Very Leisurely Saturday - And A Most Enjoyable Saturday Evening

Yahoo!!  My biological clock is on GMT and not North American time.  I managed to get a good night's sleep without waking up in the middle of the night to brew a cup of tea or two.  Instead, I was down for breakfast at 7:45 and worked on a PowerPoint presentation of the derailment at Smiths Falls to show the lads on Monday how trains derail in Canada - albeit at a slow pace.

I was uptown for 9:15 and stopped into the Cancer Society's version of the Sally Ann to buy a large bath towel so that I can take a shower at the C&W shops instead of a bath here at Camberley House.  At the end of the day after working in soot and grime, I get quite grungy and I love to take a shower.

I caught the 9:45 diesel train  up to Weybourne.  It was interesting to see two young volunteers, 16-17 years of age, looking smart in their M&GN conductors' uniforms.  On arriving in Weybourne, who was waiting on the down track but Great Western 0-6-2T #5619 waiting clearance to go down to Sheringham to couple up to its passenger cars for the second train trip of the day.

I could have had a ride in the locomotive up to Holt and back to Weybourne but I took a pass on it (foolish decision) and signed in to the C&W shops.  On preservation railways, a volunteer is considered to be staff for purposes of the British Health and Safety regulations.  This requires each person to sign in and to sign out.  In doing so, the person certifies that they will obey health and safety regulations and that they have not consumed alcohol in the last 12 hours.  The sign-in is very rigidly enforced. The pre-amble to the official sign-in sheet (required under British regulations) states that "...staff includes a volunteer.....who is working on any part of the railway......"

The shops were mostly empty!  I had expected the shops to be buzzing with volunteers but it seems that most volunteers who work in the shops do so during the week.  Keep in mind, however, that most visitors appear on the railway on the weekend which is when the largest number of volunteers is required for running the trains.  I spent a couple of leisurely hours doing a bit of painting, wandering around the shops and yards taking a closer look at the equipment and the shops.  A most interesting layout of the shops.  What we wouldn't give to have something like this back home!

By 13:45 I decided to call it a day so had a shower at the shops making use of my new towel.  Ahhhh, it felt so good to have that hot water coursing all over my body!!!!! (Notwithstanding that it was a small shower stall with a curtain that kept wanting to pour water all over the floor.  To say nothing of the cool wind that was blowing in through the open windows and doors.  But at least it was a hot shower!!!)

I left the shops and went up to the station to be greeted by music straight out of 1964 - a guitar tune by Cliff Richard's band, "The Shadows".  A father-and-son were playing guitar melodies - mouldies but goldies - on the the platform.  They went on to play music from the 1970s - the "Sultans of Swing".  If you remember that one, you aren't old, you're OLD!!!.

It was a nice sunny day with the clouds high overhead and a light sea breeze blowing in off the North Sea.  So, I sat on one of the benches, browsed the M&GN book store, bought a couple of books, took a few photos, and let some trains go by.  Talked to a guy in the book store who I later learned was John Gorton.  John and I had some very interesting railway conversations during the following weeks.

When I decided to leave, 0-6-2T #6519 seemed to be coming into the station too fast!!  Sure enough, he stopped about 20' past his limit.  The diesel came down from Holt and I hopped onto it and back down to Sheringham.

I wandered down Station Road going in and out of the stores.  The whole street was crowded with visitors.  Anyone trying to drive down the street would have had a difficult time making it down the street. I finally arrived at - you got it - "The Lobster".  Once again, the lobsters weren't in so I only could have a pint of bitters.

I went back up to the B and B and started to write up this blog.  Almost forgot  but had to get changed out of my grubbies for the "Special" that is going from Sheringham up to Holt, back to Weybourne to take a tour of the shops.  And I've been invited!!

..........................

Between 6:30 and 7:00 about 150 people started to leisurely arrive at Sheringham station to board this "by invitation only" special train. A number of the lads I had met throughout the week were there so I was introduced to their spouses and friends - once again as "Bob from Canada" - as in "Have you met Bob from Canada?  he's over here volunteering in the shops.  How long are you going to be here for, Bob?".  Talk about being made to feel welcome!  Wow!

The train, pulled by that ubiquitous GWR 0-6-2T steam locomotive, departed Sheringham around 7:30 for a leisurely ride up to Weybourne and on to the end of the line at Holt.  While the locomotive  ran around the train, everyone got out to look at the historic rolling stock, to chat, or to take a closer look at the locomotive.  Along the way, we had been served finger food - sausage rolls, sweets, and, of course, tea - with a lot of pleasant conversation mixed in.

We went back down the line to Weybourne where we were greeted once again by the father-and-son music duo playing those old 1960's and 1970's mouldies but goldies.

We bailed out of the coaches and went into the carriage and wagon shops to take a look at - guess what - the M&GN brake van that I had been helping with all week. The trip was a fund-raiser and at a very reasonable cost of £6 plus whatever else you wanted to purchase in prize draw tickets.  It was obvious from the "oohs" and "ahs" of the women and the "well done, lads" from the men that these people had been on these rides before and were indeed impressed with the work that had been done to restore the brake van.

Surprisingly, I ended up doing a bit of the tour guide bit on the British Rail Mark 1 coach that was undergoing major steel work on the next platform.  Have I arrived, or have I arrived, eh!!??

We went back up to the station where the winning tickets were drawn, and to talk to the young engineer and fireman who were manning the locomotive.  They couldn't have been any older than their late 20's and they drove that steam locomotive as if they were seasoned veterans.  Arriving back in Sheringham, I helped out a bit with the cleanup and then walked back to the B&B, arriving at 10:30.  Just enough time to finish the blog and then to go to bed.

Tomorrow (Sunday), I'm going to try to go to church in Letheringsett - the same church that my ancestors worshipped in, got married in, and were interred in.  In addition to eating lunch at the pub where they quaffed a few ales, I'm going to try to find the places where they used to live from the census records.

Friday, May 15 - Settling Down To A Regular Routine

I was off to a slow start again today.  While I managed to get a decent night’s sleep, I was wide awake at 6 am.  I made a cup of tea (actually 2 cups) and thought about getting up but decided to lay down again.  Three hours later it was 8:45 and I was about to miss the breakfast deadline of 9:15. 

I had left my laptop with Martin of Camberley House the day before so I retrieved it and spent the next hour composing “yesterday”s blog in MS Word, resizing the photos while eating my hearty English breakfast (I skipped the fried bread as that would have really done a number on my stomach!!), as I didn’t have my laptop to do the blog the night before when I had time on my hands. 

Leaving the B&B at 11:00, I made my way to the Library and logged on to the Internet.  First I took a look at my e-mails and Facebook entries.  Then I started to upload the blog.  By the time I had finished it was 11:45 - the morning was almost done!

I made my way to the NNR train station and took the diesel up to Weybourne and the shops.  The NNR shops are divided into 3 unique sections

• Carriage  and Wagon shops (only one shed where the carriages and wagons are repaired/ restored) 
• Locomotive Sheds (only one shed with 3 tracks and lots of pits loaded with steam engines and diesel locomotives in various stages of repair/ restoration)
• the Machine Shop (metal lathes, milling machines, boring machines, drill presses, horizontal band saws, sheet metal equipment - and that’s only the big stuff). 

All under one roof with walls and doors separating the three. 

One has to quickly learn the “lingo”, otherwise one doesn’t catch on to what is being said.  For example, the carriage and wagon shops are simply referred to as the C&W shops.  If you didn’t know what the “C&W” meant, you could easily get lost wandering through the buildings trying to find the lad you needed to get the tools you needed to do the job you needed to do.........

While the NNR is a separate corporate entity with about 45-50 paid part-time employees (with over 120,000 visitors a year, you need to make sure the trains run on time!!) and the M&GN is a separate entity with only volunteers and their own equipment, the lines get a bit blurred between the two. 

Firstly, volunteers wear the same coveralls as the paid workers so you really don’t know who’s a volunteer and who’s an employee.  They all know each other and they trade jokes and conversation back and forth.  We all eat our meals in the same portable mess hall, and we all have our tea breaks together.  If the employee doesn’t make the tea, then it’s a volunteer.  It just seems to be automatic that around 15:15, somebody wanders up to the mess, puts on the kettle, throws a tea bag or two into the tea pot and comes back with enough Styrofoam cups full of tea for everyone.  Everybody knows that it’s only me (volunteer) and Brian (employee) who take sugar in our tea.  You can’t get more intimate than that, eh!?

While the employees only work on NNR equipment, a volunteer could be working on NNR carriage stock or locomotives in the morning and then restoring M&GN carriages or locos in the afternoon.  As long as you sign in immediately upon arriving and sign out when leaving, very little distinction is made between the two organizations. On Thursday morning, I was working on the left side of the C&W shop on a NNR ex-British Rail Mark 1 passenger car (left side in the photo below).  Thursday afternoon and evening, I was working down the far end on the M&GN side of the Shop (right side in the photo below). 

 And here's a photo of me in the M&GN brake van.  You can see some of the rest of the M&GN historic equipment under restoration.  To give you an idea of how big the C&W shops are, the last car that you can see at the back in the photo below is directly opposite the passenger car on the left in the above photo.  The shops are a good 250' long. 

And here's the same photo again, but with a volunteer, Harry Hammond.  Harry's the one who has done all of the painting on this brake van.  Quite a job, eh!?

Notwithstanding that I got up to Weybourne at 12:30, I carried on with the teak drip edge for the M&GN brake van.   

While it might have seen as being a bit boring to be running the orbital sander up and down 4 pieces of wood, the smell of the teak sawdust was well worth it.  My objective was to get the saw blade marks out of the wood so that they wouldn’t show up when I applied the paint. 

After lunch (lunch occurs around 13:30!), I thinned some black primer with 10% paint thinner (it’s called “spirits” over here).  I applied the first coat of paint with the small paint roller I had picked up at the ironmongers (hardware store) in Sheringham.  Teak is like ash - it doesn't hold paint very well.  However, this trick of thinning the paint that I had picked up out at Smiths Falls several years ago worked extremely well with the primer soaking into the teak like an oil-based  stain.  Two more coats of thinned primer and we’ll be ready to apply the gloss coats of final black. 

Except for Harry and me, the lads all left at 4:30 leaving the two of us to lock up.  I left at 17:00 and, as it turned out, caught the last train back to Sheringham.  Otherwise, it would have been a 4 mile hike down the back country roads to Sheringham.  And I could have easily lost my way with all of those hedgerows blocking my vision. 

Dropped into “The Lobster” hoping to have lobster for supper but had to settle for the crab and brie melt with fresh potatoes, a garden salad and a pint.  The lobster fishermen hadn’t come back in yet and there was nothing left over from the day before. 

I made my way back to the B&B and tried to get onto the Internet but there was still a problem getting onto the Camberley House router.  Martin moved the router out into the guest living room and, hey presto - we were onto the Internet lickety split.  Two hours later and it's approaching midnight.  Time to go to bed.

Tomorrow will be an early day as I have to get all washed up after working.  I’ve been invited to the “visitors’ special” steam train run from Sheringham to Holt and back to Weybourne to inspect the sheds.  And it’s by invitation only so I must rate, eh!!??  Lotsa fun for sure!!. 

Thursday, May 13th - Up To The C&W Shops

Having been up most of the night, I managed to get back to sleep and get a couple hours more zizz.  Up and raring to go for 7:30, downstairs for breakfast, but then got side-tracked on some personal matters.  My laptop wouldn’t connect to Camberley House’s Wi-Fi so I made my way through the back streets to the Library where I got quick Internet access.  Sent off a few e-mails and then went up to Sheringham Station for 12 noon.  There to greet me was ex-Great Western Railway 0-6-2T #5619 (and I have the HO-scale model of this little puppy!).  Notwithstanding lack of sleep and a bit of a side-track,we were off to a good start to the day!!

When I arrived, the lads were in the process of lowering the carriage body of the British Rail Mark 1 coach back onto its bogies.  They had four 7½ ton jacks on each corner that were synchronized with each other so that one person controlled the whole up-and-down movement of the jacks.

While the bogies were being finished up, Kenny and I wheeled the end-stair and end-scaffolding away from the other Mark 1 coach. The idea was to switch the position of the two coaches so that the welder could weld in the new steel, working at floor level instead of from a ladder. 

The yard switcher moved into the shed to pull the two coaches out and put them in reverse order out in the yard.  While this was being done, Steve and I, with the help of the two Bobs, swept up the floor and cleaned out the grooves in the shop track, using sawdust to soak up the oil that had spilled on the concrete floor.


The two coaches were coming back into the shed just as we were finishing up cleaning.  We had a full wheelbarrow full of oil-soaked sawdust, bits and pieces of torched steel, and lots of other goodies which Bob (from Sheringham) and Bob (from Canada) wheeled out to the garbage skip and dumped the whole mess into the dumpster.

The car movements being done, it was time to break for lunch, albeit at 13:45 in the afternoon.

After lunch, back to work to remove the wheel covers on the recently renovated Mark 1 coach to repack the roller bearings. This job was done by Bob (from Sheringham) and Kenny while Steve and I looked on.

Out of a crew of 10 in the carriage and wagon (C&W) shop that day, three of us were volunteers. The rest were mostly lads who had taken early retirement (for one reason or another), who had very useful skills for the NNR, and were working 3-4 days a week keeping the rolling stock moving. After all, a steam-preservation railway that runs regularly-scheduled trains that sees 120,000 visitors a year is no small operation.

The covers were no sooner removed than the call for “tea-time” rang out from Andy.  I’ve drunk more tea in the last two days than I have in the previous 20 years!!  If you want coffee, the only stuff you can get is Nescafé Instant which is a really poor excuse for coffee.

During tea break, a new person appeared on the scene - Nigel Scarlett who I had been e-mailing with over the last few months.

At which point, I switched from working on North Norfolk Railway equipment to Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Preservation Society equipment - the M&GN brake van.

A bit confusing - NNR equipment to M&GN equipment? Here in Britain, the steam preservation movement is very well organized.  The operating railway, the NNR, is incorporated as a corporation with share capital (a for-profit).  The majority of shares are owned by the M&GN which is incorporated as a corporation without share capital (a non-profit). The non-profit thus controls the for-profit. However, if individuals want to invest in the for-profit NNR, they can do so through the purchase of shares but control of the NNR is still with the M&GN.

This is a very unique way to limit liability between the various aspects of the railway. This type of corporate control even extends to some of the pieces of railway equipment, particularly the steam and diesel locomotives.  For example, the B12 steam locomotive is owned by a non-profit which is controlled by the M&GN.  So, if finances go wrong with the B12 corporation, it doesn’t pull the M&GN down.  It also provides comfort to those persons interested in restoring the B12 knowing that their donations have gone to the B12 and not to the day-to-day operations of the for-profit NNR.

The NNR lads left at 16:30 leaving Nigel, Harry, Brian and myself working on the M&GN brake van.  Andy joined us but wearing a different hat, no longer the foreman of the NNR W&C shop but now a volunteer with the M&GN.  While Andy worked on the roof, I was switching between painting and helping Brian rip up and groove some beautiful teak as drip-edge for the roof.

Nigel made the trip down to Holt to pick up supper - I had “chips and beans” (the equivalent of poutine but beans substituted for the gravy of poutine) and a side of cod.  Very heavy on the stomach for the rest of the evening.

Nigel had just acquired a new container flat-wagon for the M&GN for the cost of transportation, along with two bogies and spare buffers.  This required a look-see at the end of the yard and a quick tour of the equipment.  Except for some touch-up paint and loading the buffers with springs, the brake van would be finished in the next few weeks.

We kept on working until 22:00, at which time we all decided to call it a day.  A quick wash-up, a ride from Harry back to the foot of Cliff Road, a very slow walk up the hill, and we were back at Camberley House B&B.  What with being on my feet all day, I soaked in the bathtub for a good hour.  This was the first time I had taken a bath in at least 15 years as I have to share the facilities and there is no shower. (Now, lest you think that I haven’t washed in that long period of time, I have showered very regularly!!).

It was a very interesting day as I learned the ways of British coach and wagon construction, talking to the lads, and asking lots of questions.  I had been made to feel thoroughly welcomed with the expectation that I would return again tomorrow.  Throughout the day, I had to be reminded that it was Thursday and not Friday - such was the confusion in my brain as to what day of the week I was in.  I crawled into bed, turned out the lights, and went soundly to sleep.

Tuesday & Wednesday, May 11-12, The Trip Begins!

Arriving at Ottawa airport for 16:45, I managed to have two bags (suitcase and duffel bag) checked in with my baby laptop as carry-on luggage instead of the usual single suitcase.  The plane had just come in from Frankfurt, Germany and was late in arriving, having had to detour over the top of Iceland to avoid the volcano spewing ash into the sky.  By the time the plane was turned around and boarded, we left the gate in Ottawa at 19:30 - only 1 hour late.

I hardly managed to get any sleep on the trip.  What little I did get were small cat-naps which really didn’t do any good.  The trip went quite fast as I managed to watch a couple of movies and TV documentaries.  We had to make a long detour at 33,000’ over the top of Iceland and then down through the middle of Scotland to avoid the ash clouds from the volcano that were hovering off the coast of Ireland at 20,000’ into the middle of the Atlantic.  We arrived at London Heathrow at 7:30 GMT.  I didn’t realize that we had landed until the plane was doing its usual bump-and-grind as the wheels hit the runway.  I was off the plane by 7:40 and through Customs by 8:15.


It was the fastest I had ever gone through any customs -
“How long are you staying?”
42 days until June 22nd
“Purpose of your trip?”
Vounteer at the North Norfolk Railway and chase my family roots.
Stamp, stamp. Bang, bang.
“Have a good day.”

My luggage was off the baggage carousel waiting for me as I casually walked through customs inspection.  The guy in front of me was one of the usual “random sample” inspections.  I wheeled my luggage cart down to the lower train level and was on the Heathrow Connect by 8:30 and into Paddington Station by 9:00. Most people take the Heathrow Express at a cost of £15 one way.  The Connect is half that price at $7.90 and only takes 30 minutes instead of 15.  So far so good!  I could hardly believe my luck in getting out of Heathrow Airport, through customs, and down to Paddington Station.

My next challenge was to get from Paddington Station to Liverpool St Station to catch the train to Norwich and on to Sheringham.  I could have taken the Underground to Liverpool St station.  Never having done that route before, I no doubt would have become completely lost in the deepest depths of London.  So I decided to take a taxi instead.

The lineup for taxis was quite long!  Two gents in yellow safety vests were asking people where they were going and if they were willing to share a taxi.  Based on their response and which part of the city the passenger was travelling to, they were giving people coloured cards to help the taxi marshalls decide which people were loaded into which taxi.

“Liverpool Street Station”, I replied.  I was jumped right to the front of the line and put in a taxi with three other people in less than 10 minutes!  Because of the number of passengers coming in from Heathrow, they have had a taxi-share program at Paddington since April 2008.  This gets rid of the lineups real fast.  We travelled around the city (WC2 - Westminster) to London Liverpool St station (CS - City South), arriving at 9:40.  Cost was £8.50 compared to £25 and I wasn’t in any rush.  I’ll take that any day!

I rolled my luggage down the ramp and into the ticket office to renew my Seniors’ Railpass for £28.  This gives me 1/3rd off all rail fares.  I asked for cheapest fare to Sheringham.  Regular price one-way was £56.00 but for an extra £0.60, I could get an open return ticket from London Liverpool to Sheringham.  Not a bad deal, eh!?  The train left London at 10:30.  The tea car went through about 30 minutes after leaving and so I had my usual cup of tea.  Very civilized way to travel.  I arrived in Norwich at 12:35 and ten minutes later I was on the 3-car commuter to Sheringham, arriving at 13:40.

I checked into the North Norfolk Railway office to find out where Andy, my contact person, was.  He was up at Weybourne Station so I decided to first check into my B&B to get rid of my luggage and then return to the NNR station to take the train up to Weybourne.  By this time, I was quite fatigued so this would give me the option of having a zizz- if I wanted to.

I decided not to take a zizz, so taking the advice from that Supertramp song, I took the long way back to the NNR station, discovering a laundromat just around the corner from the B&B and the location of the local library for Internet access.  I was back at the NNR Sheringham station for 14:30.

It was a pleasant 15 minute train ride up to the train sheds at Weybourne - the smell of the steam and coal soaking through the coaches with a hearty salt air blowing about.  It was a bit chilly but the sun was out and the clouds were way high up in the sky.  The golf course along the seaside was crowded.  Sheringham is very much a retirement community all year round and a seaside tourist town in the summer.  Which is why the NNR has been so successful with over 120,000 visitors a year and revenues of £1.2 million.

I arrived at Weybourne station at 15:15 (I managed to lose my complimentary train ticket somewhere down at the Sheringham station) and crossed over the tracks to the carriage and wagon sheds to search out Andy Phillips.  He and and the crew were moving some steel wheels that had been turned down on the wheel lathe underneath a bogie for one of their passenger cars.  I was introduced all around as “Bob from Canada” and we started to chat a bit with the lads.  It was tea-break time which gave me the chance to swap stories with the guys and to get to know them a bit.

After tea, it was back to wheeling a 2-ton steel wheel under a bogie on one of the British Rail Mark I passenger cars using a pallet truck with a jig on the truck.  The steel jig was much like a sawhorse except that one side of the “sawhorse” had removable 3” steel rods that slid into the steel pipes.  They would wheel the pallet truck underneath the axle.  Once nestled underneath the axle, the rods were inserted and the handle pumped up so that steel wheel was lifted off the ground.  It was then a simple matter of wheeling the pallet truck around so that the wheels straddled the rails.

The bogie was elevated 5’ off the ground with electrically-operated screw jacks with laser-levelling lenses - much like the car hoists you see in a garage, except that each of the four jacks were mounted on a pallet truck so that they could be easily moved around the shop.

I made arrangements to go to work on Thursday morning (tomorrow).  At 16:30 it was time to quit and Bob (from Sheringham) drove me back to Sheringham for 16:45.  I made my way down Station Road to the Lobster Pub for a pint of ale and some blue fish with fresh potatoes and veggie stir fry.  Back up to Camberley house by 17:45.

The road from Station Road up to Camberley House, while not as bad as the hill to the B&B in Salisbury in 2008, is as steep but over a longer distance.  Having gone up this hill twice (once to drop off my bags and this second time coming back up from supper), plus climbing the narrow stairs up to my room on the 3rd floor, I was a bit tired so I thought about lying down for a bit of a nap.

However, I wanted to see if I could connect to the B&B’s wi-fi.  I went up and down the stairs a couple more times trying to make the connection.  No luck.  I’ll have to see about getting the router closer so that I can connect.

Having written up this blog in word processing, and having been up continuously for a little over 30 hours, I decided to call it a day and turned in at 19:00.  By 02:00 I was wide awake so I put on the kettle and had three cups of tea over the next 1 ½ hours as I updated this blog, drew a sketch of the wheel jig, and read some of the literature.

Sheringham Level Crossing

The North Norfolk Railway is undertaking a major capital works project this winter - connecting the railway line back into the national railway network.  While the national network is just across the street, the rails have to go across some British Telecom cable and power lines.  A very complex project, indeed.  One misplaced shovel and all electricity and telephone communication goes down.  The street is a very busy one with lots of traffic going by. 

Here's some very interesting videos taken by Peter Boggis and "OB Models" of the work being done.
14 January 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing 'Making a Start' by Peter Boggis
16 January 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing- A Very Wet Saturday by Peter Boggis
17 January 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing: Rebuilding a Railway (Part 1 - HD) by "OB Models"
23 January 2010 - Sheringham Crossing (Work in Progress) by Peter Boggis
23 January 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing: Rebuilding a Railway (Part Two - HD) by "OB Models"
24 January 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing: Rebuilding a Railway (Part Three - HD) by "OB Models"
26 January 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing - 'Preparing For The Next Phase' by Peter Boggis
31 January 2010 - 'Sheringham Level Crossing: Rebuilding a Railway (Part Four - HD) by "OB Models"
09 February 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing: "Work Begins On The Other Side" by Peter Boggis
13 February 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing: Rebuilding a Railway (Part Five - HD) by "OB Models"
20 February 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing: Rebuilding a Railway (Part Six - HD) by "OB Models"
21 February 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing "Edging Closer" by Peter Boggis
24 February 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing "Gateposts n' Panels" by Peter Boggis
24 February 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing "A flying visit" by Peter Boggis
27 February 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing: Rebuilding a Railway (Part 7 - HD) by "OB Models"
06-07 March 2010 -  Sheringham Level Crossing: A Rebuilt Railway! (Part 8 - HD) by "OB Models"
07 March 2010 - Sheringham Level Crossing "Mission Accomplished" by Peter Boggis

Congratulations to all on a job well done!