Saturday June 5th 2010 20:45
A day out at Thomas the Tank Engine's 65th Birthday
The 5th of June 2010 turned out to be Thomas the Tank Engine's 65th birthday. What fun!
We met in the car park and made our way to Norchard station.
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For some of us however, progress wasn't fast enough:
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We eventually made it onto the platform - and there he was! Thomas the Tank Engine! Wow.
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Sir Topham Hat, the Fat Controller oversaw the day's proceedings:
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The band played on!
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The whole area was decorated with bunting and had a real carnival feel to it.
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A full timetable of the day's events was provided. As with most timetables it took an engineer to decipher it!
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Thomas the Tank Engine helped this engine with some shunting, to move the carriages closer to the platform.
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Moving the carriages gave us a better view of some of the other engines who played a part in the day's later proceedings:
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Thomas arrived back in the Station, giving everyone the chance for a closer look:
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All aboard!
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"Hmmmm. Wonder what's over there?"
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Suddenly the engines went "Peep! Peep!"
This turned out to be rather too loud and a few suprised tears followed.
Moments after the following picture was taken, my sister, ever the contortionist, somehow manage to get her other hand over his left ear just in the nick of time!
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"What you lookin' at?"
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When we stopped at Lydney junction station the engineers got out to discuss the finer points of how the engine was to be reattached to the front of the train.
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Despite offers of shoes/trainers/sandals, wellies were deemed to be the only footwear required!
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Others stayed on the train as that's where the food was:
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Revitalised by that tasty snack, we were treated to a show of strength:
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After a spot of lunch, we took Daisy the Diesel to the Parkend Station where there was a merry-go-round, ice-cream van and a marquee full of all things steam related.
Someone spotted that the merry-go-round had cars on it. This was very exciting. The music stopped and we secured a seat in the desired vehicle. The music started and they were off!
Within a matter of seconds this young engineer realised that the "steering wheel" was nothing more than a cheap prop and had absolutely no bearing on the direction of travel. The excited smile vanished and was replaced with a look of boredom and contempt.
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He couldn't wait to get off.
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Following this we made our way to the marquee which was much better as it contained real steam engines that moved and did things - miles better than some silly ride!
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We made our way back on Bertie the Bus. Its arrival was greeted by a chorus of children exclaiming "It's the wrong colour!"
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Having made it back to Norchard station, we waved goodbye to Thomas the Tank Engine, wishing him a very happy 65th birthday!
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