Here - Heritage Express

Chief Executive’s
Report
It has been a big month for volunteers at the RTM
with the big ‘call to arms’ for the second Day Out With
Thomas event in September. It was another successful
weekend with many valuable lessons learnt from our
May event enacted. Again we were blessed with great
weather and all our visitors seemed to thoroughly
enjoy themselves.
A new initiative was the introduction of Bulgy, the
green double-decker bus, provided by the Sydney
Bus Museum. ‘He’ did the loop to Couridjah where
passengers could stand on the platform and watch
Henry and his train pass by. It’s all great promotion
for the Rail Heritage Centre and an important new
source of revenue. We simply couldn’t put on the
event if we did not have so many volunteers willing
to help. Just to show you cannot have too much of
a good thing, we will run three Day Out With Thomas
events in 2010 with the next one scheduled for 15 &
16 May.
We have also had a concerted effort in clearing the
site of loco parts by several of our site volunteers
under the guidance of Allan Leaver. This is in
preparation for the commencement of the second
stage of the site upgrade. The boilers and large items
not required immediately have been relocated off-site
to a temporary storage site, while smaller items will
be stored in the new Roundhouse store. This has been
a demanding task and the effort by the volunteers is
very much appreciated.
Lastly in early October we had a team of eight
volunteers from Conservation Volunteers Australia
who spent a week preparing the Instruction Car,
FZ 909, for painting. The mentor for this project
was Neville Henry with the capable assistance of
Ken Ames. The CVA team did a fantastic job
inside and out. When the painting is completed
later in the year it will be close to its original
condition and will be a feature exhibit in the
new display configuration. A special thank you to
Jenni Edmonds who helped supervise the work
and ensured that we had all the equipment and
Office of Rail Heritage that have supported the
CVA program across the rail heritage network.
Please keep in mind our volunteers’ Christmas
Party which this year will be held in the new
Roundhouse on Saturday evening 12 December.
Richard Mulvaney
Day Out With Thomas
another great success for the RTM
What a
Day Out
With Thomas
at Thirlmere
is all about
— great
family fun and
memories.
With minutes
remaining before
departure of their
steam train, the
excitement builds
for our guests
at Sodor Station
(Thirlmere) on Sunday
20 September.
This image: Colleen
Harris and her family.
Right: Nerreda Simon
and family.
Below: Anna and Nino
Pelle and children.
This image: Donald passes through Couridjah with the return working of his first train to Buxton
on 20 September. Unusually, Donald was facing Sodor Station for the duration of this event.
Right: making his first appearance at Day Out With Thomas at Thirlmere was Bulgy the Bus,
who ferried visitors on trips to Couridjah Station to greet Donald or Henry as they passed by with
their passenger trains. Here, Kerrie and Keiran Pogson and children, get to know Bulgy on 19
September. Our thanks to all the parents pictured who granted publication permission.
All photos by Colin McDonald