Thompson Park Miniature Railway, Burnley, Lancashire, UK

August 2025 Newsletter

Narrative by Bret Harrison, Track Maintenance Dept.

     At this time of year, we find ourselves running carrying passengers for much of the summer as Wednesday running in the school holidays kicks in and with the odd Bank Holiday thrown in for good measure. At this time our normal maintenance day of Wednesday goes out of the window as track maintenance is impossible with the heavy running days so we can only content ourselves with any essential repair that may arise. As an aside none did!

    Staffing the operation with volunteers also becomes a problem, clearly those members working cannot be there on Wednesdays and we always seem to be running with minimum numbers and often coping with long queues of passengers waiting. Still, we have managed to cope, often without being able to run a third train to ease the demand. Following a simple explanation our passengers on the most are happy to wait for the next train.

    So, to other news. On a sunny and warm Thursday August 14th it was the day chosen for our members family open day when we can run our trains solely for the benefit of members families. It is the second time we have done this, last year being the first when the weather was not as kind and as before it was a great success. Children were able to drive the trains with adult supervision, and all seemed to have a great time, it is amazing how quickly they pick up on the instructions.

A few thanks here – Thanks to John and Alan for organising the barbecue which went down a treat. David our Society Treasurer is to be thanked for having the idea in the first place and sorting an excellent buffet in the clubhouse we all enjoyed and to all involved with getting the gazebos and the trains up and running and putting them to bed after the event. It was a lovely day and thoroughly enjoyed by all. We will have to do this again next summer.

At the event it was announced that our new Society President was to be Brian Howorth who has been a long serving member of the Railway. Brian will be an excellent President in the wake of our former President John Pickles who passed away last month. A plaque in his memory has been cast and fitted to one of the benches in the station waiting area.

Almost a year in the planning on Sep 12th to 14th we will be hosting the AGM of the National 7.25″ Society when as well as them having their annual meeting their members will be bringing along with them their locomotives to run on our Railway for the 3 days. Locomotives from across the Country will be attending. There should be at least 30 locomotives visiting and public trains will be operating over 2 days Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th hauled by these engines. It should be an event not to be missed so we hope we have plenty of visitors to ride the trains.

We come to the end of our summer running season at the end of September with Santa trains to look forward to in December. This break gives us chance to catch up on maintenance of our track, locomotives and rolling stock which are all in need of some TLC. In addition, we will be working on one or two projects over the close season which will enhance our Railway for next season. A reminder that the last running weekend in September, the 27th and 28th as always is our charity weekend when all our proceeds from the weekend are donated to a local charity so if you can attend you would be very welcome.

Here’s a picture of our latest member. He has caught a fish but has not started bragging yet.

Enjoy the Autumn and just the rest of the month to ride our trains.