We had a meeting at Didcot on Friday (11 April) to discuss the many arrangements required to be made for our forthcoming move.
Final agreements have been reached on access arrangements to the site, provision of services, insurance arrangements etc. We are very grateful to Didcot Railway Centre for the help and support they have given us and we look forward to working together in future in the setting-up and running of the Panel.

We then hosted a visit to Banbury North and South boxes on Saturday (12 April). 20 members enjoyed a very informative tour of the signal boxes, both of which are due to close in the next few years.

Several members have posted their photos of the day:

Photographs by “Llangollen Signalman”:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/llangollen_signalman/sets/72157643853412823/

As well as on our Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/swindonpanel

Thank you very much to all who attended and if you would like to put up any photos of the day on Facebook or email them to us then please feel free to do so. Thanks also to the signallers in the boxes for putting up with us!

We attended the “Once in a Blue Moon” event at Didcot Railway Centre this weekend with our stand. The event was well-attended and we were particularly pleased to have a presence at our future home site.

The event was hosted to celebrate the coming-together of three steam locomotives in BR express passenger blue livery – King Edward II, Tornado and Sir Nigel Gresley.

Lots of visitors, both from within the Great Western Society and outside were very interested in what we were doing, which is very encouraging. We hope to build some stronger links between our organisation and the GWS volunteers in the near future; watch this space!

Thanks to everyone who came from far and wide on 15 March to our talk and visit to Swindon Panel.

We managed to Squeeze in 31 visitors in two groups during the day with much photographing and talking and seemingly a good time was had by all.

Additionally thanks to the NR staff in the panel for putting up with us and also to all who signed up and/ or donated. The non-stop loco hauled special was a nice little bonus too.

If you have any photos you would like to share of the day then please feel free to post them on our FB page.

We will displaying at MODRAIL in Swindon this coming Saturday 8th March. This is in Swindon STEAM Museum between 10am and 4.30pm.

http://www.modrail.org.uk/modrail-2014

If you’re in the area, why not come and visit us? Be sure to introduce yourself so we can put a face to a name. Visitors to the model show can also get a discounted ticked to visit the Steam Museum which well worth a walk round. The Steam Museum is easy to find driving to Swindon by following the brown tourist road signs, or is an easy walk from Swindon station (approx 10 minutes) (link to route below).

Or if you have an hour or two to spare why not come and help us on the stand? There are no special skills required, we just chat to visitors and give them Swindon Panel leaflets to take away. It’s amazing some of the stories of involvement with signalling in the Swindon area people seem to have, which we are especially looking forward to as this event is in Swindon itself. Let us know if you can help 🙂

We look forward to seeing you there!!

Walking route from Swindon Station

We displayed our stand at Newbury Model Railway show this weekend. Thank you to everyone who came and chatted to us.

Lots of leaflets and information was given out, which we hope will spread the word a bit more.

Saturday 14 September was the day of the latest public project meeting, held in Swindon and followed by a visit to the panel itself. Those who visited the panel where shown the operating floor and the relay room where Tony Cotterell kindly gave an interesting talk on relay interlocking basics and explained what some of the relays downstairs where actually doing.

I think we can safely say that it was a successful day. It was well attended and hopefully enjoyed by all. We took in a significant amount of money in donations which will be a great help towards our setup costs for which we are very grateful. It was especially good to finally meet so many of our support so far and hope to see you again in the near future.

So I’d just like to say thanks to everyone who came and those who helped organise the event. I’d especially like to extend my thanks to the staff on duty in the box who where very patient towards us.

Details of our next project meeting will be posted here (and e-mailed out) as soon as they are available.

Thank you very much to James Keith for recording part of the visit on video!