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News
April / May 2010 Bulletin
Quiz Night
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On Tuesday, 20th April a group of volunteers from the railway entered a team in a Charity Quiz in aid of Moray Fresh Start and held in the Ashvale Fish Restaurant in Elgin Under the name of the Wheel Tappers and Shunters, they had great fun and managed to win on the night! Moray Fresh Start helps homeless households with essential household items as they move into new accommodation. The evening saw over £400 raised.
The evening started with a fish supper for participants and our prize on the night was yes, vouchers for fish suppers!
The pictures, show team members in deep concentration and the team delighted with their winnings.
Whisky Festival
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As part of the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival the Keith & Dufftown Railway ran scheduled services from Friday 30th April to Monday 3rd May with complimentary whisky tasting and shortbread at our normal fares. The trains were well patronised with most passengers taking the opportunity to enjoy a complimentary whisky and shortbread.
Strathmill Distillery, adjacent to the Keith & Dufftown Railway and with a siding still running into the distillery, normally doesn’t open its doors to visitors. However, for the second year running, as part of the festival, there was an opportunity to visit this Diageo Distillery. In conjunction with the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival and the Keith and Dufftown Railway a unique package was available including a return trip on the railway from Dufftown to Keith and a tour of the Distillery. The train departed Dufftown Station and ran to Keith Town Station, on arrival at Keith visitors were escorted from Keith Town Station to the Distillery by a Keith & Dufftown Railway volunteer. After the Distillery tour visitors were free to explore Keith. The return ticket from Keith to Dufftown was valid on any returning service from Keith that day. The attendance of the Strathisla Pipe Band playing at Keith Town on Sunday was an added bonus.
AUCHINDACHY
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Auchindachy Station closed in 1968 as part of the Beeching cuts. The building still stands, although it is now a private residence. One platform of the original two is intact and in the ownership of the KDRA - a fine stand of trees grows where the other used to be! Across the road from the station is the Mill of Towie, a Victorian watermill complete with waterwheel and internal fittings. The Mill of Towie is now home to the Thirteen Moons restaurant.
Having not seen a passenger in more than 40 years, Auchindachy suddenly woke to life on Saturday 15th May as a wedding party used Auchindachy Station to access the Thirteen Moons restaurant! With the kind permission and cooperation of the owners of the station building the wedding party crossed their property on their way to the Thirteen Moons restaurant. Arrangements had been made with the railway to bring the platform back into use for this special occasion. Volunteers from the railway cut back overgrown shrubs and trees. The platform was tidied and made safe for use and a path along the platform cleared, marked out and decorated for the occasion. The following photographs show the part the railway played in a young couple’s special day.
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These photos show Auchindachy station as seen from the train on its way between Keith and Dufftown on Saturday morning. Compare these photos with the one above to see the effect of the volunteers work on Auchindachy platform.
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First photo shows the happy couple being piped aboard the train which was the 14:50 service train from Keith to Dufftown. The next two photos show some of the guests boarding the train.
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The first passenger train in 40 years calls at Auchindachy Station!
The Happy Couple pose for photographs as they leave the train at Auchindachy.
Leading their guests along the platform at Auchindachy.
More guests on the platform.
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Bridesmaids and guests at Auchindachy station.
Guests make their way to the end of the platform.
The last of the guests leaving the platform at Auchindachy.
After its brief reawakening Auchindachy station has returned to its slumbers, let us hope it will not be another 40 years before it reawakens again!
DMU CHANGES
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We have two DMU units, Spirit of Speyside which is composed of a Driver Motor Brake Second (DMBS) car and a Driver Trailer Second (DTS) car and Spirit of Banffshire which is composed of two Driver Motor Second (DMS) cars. We are currently running a hybrid Speyside / Banffshire unit composed of the DMBS from Speyside and the Keith DMS from Banffshire
With the arrival of the new DTLC further possibilities are opened up once it has been brought into service. The new DTLC is nearly ready for service and it is our intention to swop the DTLC for the Banffshire DMS. This will allow us to reunite both cars of Banffshire again. The DTS from Speyside requires some work on a wheel set before it returns to service. The DTLC will enter service in its current Rail Blue livery with the option to repaint it to BR Green at a future date. Details of changes to our operating DMUs will be published on this page as they occur.
Buffer Stop
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The Buffer Stop reopened on Friday 2nd of April for the 2010 season. The first two booked parties have been already been catered for and we look forward to serving more booked parties, those using our trains or just popping in while passing. All are welcome to enjoy our good food at good prices.
Tuesday Work Party
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The Tuesday Work Party at Dufftown station has tended to concentrated 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. However, this is not to the exclusion of more major tasks. See below for the latest major piece of work undertaken by the group. Anyone interested in taking part in this group is asked to contact Alistair Coull on 01542 831295 or Alan Stuart on 01343 820882. There is always work for any pair of willing hands. Come along, learn something new or share your skills with others!
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On Tuesday 13th April some of the Tuesday group took a work train out to clear timber from the lineside. The train consisted of the brake van, weltrol with mini digger loaded aboard. The mini digger was fitted with a grab to enable it to be used to collect and load timber. The weltrol was followed by a well wagon to transport the collected timber. The complete train was powered by the Wee Mac crewed by an experienced driver instructing a trainee driver in the art of handling a works train.
The train went to Parkmore bridge to deal with a large tree. The branches were sawn off the tree and loaded aboard the well wagon using the mini digger.
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The pile of branches in the well wagon grew rapidly larger as they were removed from the tree and loaded aboard. The train then returned to Dufftown to offload the timber in the yard. The timber in the yard provides fuel for the booking office fire so we recycle everything we can.
DMU and Rolling Stock Maintenance and Refurbishment
See above under “DMU Changes” for details of latest work on our DMUs.
Our two closed vans, ex MOD built 1940, started refurbishment in early 2009 and were finally completed in April 2010
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The two vans have received new doors, roof coverings, some plank replacements and a new livery of grey paint in place of their original MOD green. The vans are now ready for service on the railway again.
No work was possible on the vans for the first 3 months of 2010 due to the heavy snow conditions. Having no covered workshop we are at the mercy of the weather and must wait for suitable conditions before work on rolling stock can proceed.
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Our Brake van was beginning to look a little tired and in need of some refurbishment as this first photo shows. As part of our ongoing stock refurbishment program, attention was turned to the Brake van after the MOD vans (see above) were completed. Some timber replacement was done then the brake was stripped and repainted. Second photo shows the Brake van resplendent in its new bauxite livery.
Maintenance of all our rolling stock is an ongoing operation and volunteers with the following skills are always needed; electrical or mechanical engineering, coach building, upholstery, woodworking, metalworking, and painting.
© 2007, the Keith & Dufftown Railway Association
