Special Events
Driver Experience
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Next Evening Special.
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The next evening special will be a Scots Night which we intend to run during the whisky festival at the end of September. The menu will be haggis neeps and tatties and /or mince and tatties and a few good Scottish sweets. Probable date 27th September, but this has still to be confirmed, watch this space.
Advance Notice
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Santa Specials this year will be over two weekends, Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th and Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th December. Watch this space for details later this year.
Train Hire
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News
August Bulletin
Much work continues to be done on the Permanent Way; use this link Permanent Way for details. Refurbishment and maintenance on our two DMUs, Spirit of Speyside and Spirit of Banffshire is on going see below on this page for further details.
Spirit of Banffshire in action after 4 years
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Saturday 2nd August saw a hectic day finish with the Duty DMU Spirit of Speyside being failed on its return to Dufftown due to a ruptured gasket on no. 1 engine
The duty crew shunted and then prepared the four engined Spirit of Banffshire unit which has been progressing to serviceability since February but still requires some work to internal refurbishment and exterior painting
Banffshire was placed into service after all safety checks were carried out, the following morning, Sunday 3rd August. Driver was Colin Anderson who has driven this unit in passenger service before. Guard training took place as well due to there being no brake compartment on this DMU which necessitates the rear cab being utilised as Guards accommodation. Banffshire performed well all day and the crew rapidly adjusted to the changes in operational practise in using this unit.
Spirit of Speyside's leak was repaired, filters cleaned and heaters repaired. By the end of Sunday she was assessed serviceable for the following weekend. Speyside returned to passenger service Friday 8th August and Banffshire was removed from passenger service to allow painting and restoration work to continue on the Spirit of Banffshire.
Driver Experience
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The Driver Experience, using the UDV shunter, has proved to be a great success. Continuing the KDRA’s policy of “Catch Em Young” the photo shows some of the younger ones who have tried the Driver Experience proudly holding their certificates. Interestingly it seems to be the ladies who are most keen to try their hand at driving as they are currently outnumbering the men roughly 3 to 1!
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On Sunday 10th August, due to technical problems, the UDV shunter was not available for Driver Experience. The Wee Mac was substituted and successfully carried out the Driver Experience for the day.
Keith Town station shop
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Keith Town station shop now has a range of pre owned model railway and related items in various gauges / scales for sale. On 15th August 2008 these included: Dapol OO gauge Class 66s, 66716 & 66703; Farish N gauge vans Fyffes, Terrys, Knorr, Gibbs SR; LGB G scale 0-4-0 steam outline loco; Model Buses in Lothian & National Express livery. Use this link shop for further details.
Buffer Stop
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July was a busy month as far as the Buffer Stop was concerned, both with passengers from the trains and with those who saw our sign at the entrance to Dufftown station car park. We welcome all our guests whether they come by train or road and aim to provide quality food at reasonable prices. Most weekends in July seemed to be sunny and tables have been set out on the platform, dining al fresco seems to have gone down well. Hopefully we'll get a few more fine days so that we can do the same for the rest of the summer.
Tuesday Work Party
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Alistair Coull and Alan Stuart have established a Tuesday Work Party at Dufftown station. This concentrates on “light work” i.e. smaller tasks that tend to appear further down the list of priorities e.g. painting and keeping the environment tidy etc. Anyone interested in taking part in this group is asked to contact Alistair Coull on 01542 831295 or Alan Stuart on 01343 820882.
DMU and Rolling Stock Maintenance and Refurbishment
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Refurbishment on Spirit of Banffshire is on going both internally and externally. Volunteers are attending to the exterior paintwork, the roof is being stripped prior to repainting. Internally the floors are being stripped and repolished with attention also being given to seating and general clean and polish to the interior. This program was interrupted on Sunday 3rd August when Banffshire was called into service to replace the failed Spirit of Speyside.
Saturday 2nd August saw the duty DMU Spirit of Speyside being failed on its return to Dufftown due to a ruptured gasket on no. 1 engine Spirit of Speyside's leak was repaired, filters cleaned and heaters repaired. By the end of Sunday she was assessed serviceable for the following weekend. Speyside returned to passenger service Friday 8th August and Banffshire was removed from passenger service to allow painting and restoration work to continue on the Spirit of Banffshire.
Maintenance of all our rolling stock is an ongoing operation and volunteers with the following skills are always needed; electrical or mechanical engineering, coachbuilding, upholstery, woodworking, metalworking, painting.
© 2007, the Keith & Dufftown Railway Association
