OPEN DAY ON SATURDAY THE 19TH APRIL

Romsey Town Mayor Cllr John Parker and family visited the signal box site on our last open day.

They are seen here about to have a demonstration of the signal box working.

 NEWS FOR THE 17TH APRIL 2025

Three of our younger members distributing ballast.

Charlie, Edward and Noah requested a private visit to the signal box site, which was arranged for today.  They had a long session operating the main signal box and then went outside in the sunshine to distribute some ballast from the ballast trolley.

I have to say they were all very well behaved and it was a pleasure to have them there.

The newly painted white railings.

Whilst the boys were "playing" Adrian and I got on with some other tasks.

Adrian put some decking oil on the cafe porch, the Cowley Bridge porch and the level crossing. This looks a great deal better and will get another coat in due course.

I wire brushed and painted the white railings, which now look a lot brighter.

The newly lit Cowley Bridge model.

A few days ago I took the Cowley Bridge model home to install some miniature lighting. After several hours of "fiddling" the model now has a light in the entrance porch, a light over the booking desk and even a flickering flame effect in the stove. I re-installed the model yesterday.

Small enhancements such as these can make all the difference.

Dave

APRIL UPDATE...

Our open day today was blessed with glorious sunshine all day.

We had 46 visitors who started to arrive as early as 10.30am. A high proportion of those were willing to gift-aid their entry fee, which really helps us, and so a big thank you for that.

Around the site...

Recently a working party had a good sort out and tidy up around the site. The lean-to (our workshop area) was really tidied up and a new workbench created. One of our volunteers very kindly donated a piller drill which will prove very useful.

To the rear of the lean-to was also cleared of rubbish and swept up. Access is now much improved.

Our tool and equipment shed didn't escape either!

This received a thorough going over, throwing out the rubbish and tidying up the remainder.

After we close to the public it's a free for all to grab any cake that was unsold.

A popular pass time as you can see!