A Year In Review
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Monday 31st December 2012
There was quite some pre-season activity at the station in 2012, with the frames of M.N.Ry. No.4 Caledonia being tested early in the year, with No.8 Fenella providing the motive power; clearances were checked with the unusual train running round the loop and into goods yard on a day of mixed weather (right) showing the moody skies as the train negotiates the loop; this turnout is the tightest curve on the line and was a crucial part of these trails which were deemed a success. Then in February No.12 Hutchinson was on a stock marshalling train ahead of the first passenger trains (below). the year also saw a new replica slotted post signal installed on Pumphouse Curve southwest of the station, the first time one of these signals had been seen in use for many years. This was installed and provided by the Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters' Association and remains in daily use today. The signal on this site was relocated to the northern extent in replacement of a time-expired post. Trains then began in mid-March and operated as traditional until the end of October.
Highlights of the year included a busy Rush Hour weekend in April, photographic charters, the introduction of the dining train the the Blow Away The Cobwebs train which ran between Christmas and New Year with No.4 Loch in charges (below left). Elsewhere, the Friends Of... reinstated the open fire in the waiting room which can be seen below as smoke drifts from the chimney for the first time in many years. The crossing lodge at Mill Road, the last surviving one of its kind, was identified by the Isle of Man Steam Railway Supporters' Association as their next restoration project and was removed from the site temporarily while work was carried out at the nearby Balthane Industrial Estate. It would return in 2017 fully restored. Charters during the Manx Heritage Transport Festivsl also saw their restored wagon M.78 present at the station, the year rounding off by using the site as terminus for the Santa Trains for the last time to date, these populat excursions returned to Santon Station the following year. Volunteers continued to develop their displays and maintenence with enhanced floral displays and improved signage.
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