18/05/2012 by admin.

My beloved engine FC Tingey arrived back at KSE this week and I was really glad to see it. I was waiting for Mike when he arrived on Thursday morning to put FC back into the train shed where he belongs and after a quick inspection by yours truely normal platform status was returned.

It is planned to run trains over the Diamond Jubilee weekend at KSE on the Sunday and Monday and we are awaiting the arrival of a BSK to carry the passengers in. Trains will run from mid morning to 4pm on both days and tickets to ride can be purchased on the day. Admission to the station is free, as usual, and the buffet car will be open serving food and drinks.

On the Saturday of that weekend KS town is having a huge street party with closure of the main high street and diversions will be in place.

Hope to see you over the Bank Holiday weekend but I will be hiding from view and you may not spot me until the end of the day.

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14/05/2012 by admin.

 I am still awaiting the return of my favourite engine FC Tingey as there is a big gap in the platform where it should be and I do NOT like it. This week and over the weekend I staged a protest by staying out of the station building when my humans were on site. They were all over the yard looking for me but I wouldn’t come in. My protest was, however, cut short when 60mph gales started up at KS and I was forced into the building late Sunday afternoon. I am reassured to learn that FC will be back this week and I will have enough vantage points to hide from Pinza the dog.

This weekend Sue and Dave were working on the Planet - giving it a much needed touch up of paint and the running boards were rubbed down for painting. I also observed two new volunteers - Roland and Brenda who seem to like cats so I will get on well with them.

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07/05/2012 by admin.

I am missing my favourite 0-4-0 saddle-tank ‘FC Tingey’ since it left KSE on Tuesday to take part in the Spring steam gala at Locomotion. I am told that it is performing well at Shildon and very popular with the visitors. It is the shiniest locomotive in the gala and has been working passenger trains for brake van rides this weekend. It is due to work again today (Monday) at Shildon and is on the first trains of the day. After working the passenger service it will be on the apron for people to have ‘cab experience’. I am longing to have it back at KSE as there is a big gap in the platform where I have no shelter and I have to slum it on the Planet 0-4-0 DM.

The picture was taken yesterday at Shildon.

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26/04/2012 by admin.

Weather at KSE has been strange over the weekend. I took the opportunity of late afternoon sunshine to top up my tan and enjoy the warmth of the platform. I was given flea treatment last month and wormed this week so I am in fine form for the summer. This picture  was the only real sunshine we had all weekend and the ground was very wet for most of the time.

Over the weekend my humans were busy in the station cleaning the engines and getting FC Tingey ready for the steam gala at Shildon on May Day Bank Holiday. I will miss FC as I like to sleep on it and to annoy his owner Mike by marking it with my paw prints just after he’s cleaned the running board.

The Planet has been cleaned this week after it’s new compressor was fitted and 910 is now resplendant in its new gala tent canopy. The Class 47 is still my favourite outside engine as it has lots of  places I can hide from Pinza the station dog.

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11/04/2012 by admin.

Well another Easter Rally has been and gone and I was pleased for my humans that so many people came to see the station. To date I don’t have many pictures from the weekend so have attached  one from a previous rally of one of the regular exhibits. The diesel gang managed to resurrect the class 20 and 37 which had been out of operation for two years after thieves attacked them. Phil and Mike worked for many days to repair them and visitors were treated to a static display of the locomotives which roared into life. Graham gave tours of the Class 47 cab and the Planet and Peckett were involved in demonstration runs up and down the line. Tom Wilson from Hartlepool had his Tasker in operation next to the Peckett so outside was a cacophany of noise (too much for me).

I chose to hide in the platform and watch proceeding from underneath 910 and observe the 2,000 visitors that came to the site. On the platform were a variety of displays of models and collectable items and the booking office had a display of posters about KSE. The buffet car and shop did a roaring trade as  did the tombola. We had over thirty volunteers on site over the weekend and by Sunday evening they were exhausted.

I enjoyed Monday, as I am usually on my own, but Mike, Sue, Diana, Mark  and Graham  E were around to fuss me after I had spent the night sleeping in FC Tingey which was warm following the steamings over the Bank Holiday.

Our next event is the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend when we will be running trains on the Sunday and Monday (we hope to have our coach available to caryy passengers by then.

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04/04/2012 by admin.

 It has been a bit of a shock to my system to find snow at KSE yesterday and the A66 shut due to snowdrifts. The picture shows me on Saturday enjoying the warmth of the Planet diesel engine just after it had been put back into the trainshed. I hope that it brightens up for Easter and that the volunteers and exhibitors can get over for the Classic Commercial Vehicle Rally which will be held on Easter Saturday and Sunday. Parking for visitors to KSE that weekend will be at Brough with free buses from their to the station run by my friends Cumbria Classic Coaches.

The snow at KSE is no where near as bad as last year and I am glad that I wasn’t living at Barras Station in February 1947 when this photograph was taken. I am told that the winters were extremely harsh then and people were cut off for days and animals were unable to get out into the fields.

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02/04/2012 by admin.

It has been a while since I last put paw to keyboard in part because we have been so busy getting ready for Easter and also I have been thinking of things to say. The picture for today shows retired railwaymen who visited KSE over the Stainmore 150 weekend in August. The sunny weather this weekend reminded me of that day but the highlight of my weekend was the fact that the Planet and Peckett were out on the platform getting prepared for Easter. We do not yet have our passenger carrying rolling stock on site so there will be demonstration  runs of shunting over the Easter weekend by the Planet and Peckett. On site there will be a number of exhibits from the Eden Classic Commercial Vehicle Group  and the shop and Buffet will be open. The Museum has been having a repaint of the ceiling and should be open for the event.

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05/03/2012 by admin.

My humans are getting the  station ready for the Easter Rally which is the opening event for the visitor season at KSE. The Hamer family (organisers and proprietors of Cumbria Classic Coaches)  have already been to visit to see the site for exhibitors as KSE is one of three sites for the annual Classic Commercial Vehicle Rally held in Brough and Kirkby Stephen on Easter Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free and parking for the event is at Brough with free vintage buses travelling between sites and depositing people at KSE.

The buffet car will be open with Donna and crew manning it and the shop will be open as usual. There is plenty to do before the event with potholes to be filled in the car-park and access road (a job reserved for the Good Friday). There will be our annual first aid update on that day as well.  We will have a tombola each day of the event and all donations of prizes will be gratefully received.

On the day we will need volunteer marshals and people to help out in the buffet etc. I will be keeping a low profile as I don’t like large crowds but any donations to my cat food cupboard will be very welcome.

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21/02/2012 by admin.

At KSE we have a number of these teak coaches that make ideal climbing frames for cats (the underframes). I particularly like buffet car that sits in the Darlington platform. My friends Donna, Graham, Robin, James and Sue operate it for events and they serve tea and coffee plus toasties and soup. I am not allowed inside it but after a day of operation they usually give me left overs. We are always looking for volunteers to help out in the buffet car and at Easter it will re-open for the season. The coach underframes also have empty battery boxes which make a great hiding place from which I can observe visitors.

The photo today shows Gresley TTO 60505 which used to sit in front of the buffet car and now is in the Tebay platform. My friends Mike and Phil T have been working on this coach and have raised the money to upholster the seats. At the moment I am allowed into this coach but I think I will be banned once the seats are in place as I love a good scratch on a cushion.

To learn more about the Gresely coaches at KSE please visit the webpage about them on the SRC website.

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15/02/2012 by admin.

My favourite diesel (after the Planet) is 47 785 which arrived at KSE in 2007 from Motherwell. It ran under the nameplates of ‘The Statesman’ and ‘Fion Castle’. It has been repainted by my friends Graham, Peter and Gordon and is great to climb underneath. it resides in the Tebay platform outside the shed and formed the backdrop of the performance by the Kirkby Stephen Silver Band at Stainmore 150.  There are a number of mainline diesels on site at KSE and my friends Phil and Mike work on them at weekends to get them running. I would love to ride in the cab of one of them but I am a very shy cat and the noise they make scares me.

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