A family visit to Bressingham at Easter

Seeking out Seymour

After following all of the activity surrounding the 2010 season opening it was nice to be able to enjoy a day with the family this Easter. Our first port of call was the Gallopers where we sought out Seymour especially. I'm not sure if a three and a half year old quite understood fully when I explained the significance, but he grasped "man on horses" and was happy enough. Oddly enough one of his middle name is Seymour, taken from my late step father's middle name, so maybe it's a portent!

It's always great to see the Gallopers running as they were intended - on steam. Somehow it's just not the same when they're on electric, maybe it's the near silence with which they turn that takes some of the fun away.

Au revoir Seymour, not good bye

Cake decoration captures Seymour's character perfectly

After sixteen years of working at Bressingham, today was Seymour's last official day at work as he retires. A gathering of staff and volunteers in the afternoon presented him with a specially designed cake and a Corgi model of a carousel similar to Bressingham's in recognition of his long and valued service to Bressingham.

More trackwork and Gallopers are coming along well

Toby on the 2ft gauge

Ever the glutton for punishment, I put myself into the frame for another day of trackwork before the maintenance season ends and Bressingham opens its doors to the public again on 27th March. The other motive was to get a behind the scenes glimpse at The Gallopers as they are reassembled following their overhaul and inspection.

Trackwork and Gallopers update

Track maintenance

Today's visit was to help do some work on the track. When the main season finishes at the end of October there is a five month window to do any track maintenance before things open again fully towards the end of March. Obviously this work needs planning around the Christmas and February half-term opening as some trains do run for these events.

Photoshoot for Christmas 2010 marketing

Bressingham's Snow Queen (taken on previous visit)

After my first Christmas visit I knew that I could achieve some much better images with the use of flash lighting. In my mind's eye I pictured the Snow Queen in her sleigh with the background washed in blue light to give the image a cold tone. Given the very low light levels inside it would be virtually impossible to shoot the Snow Queen without the use of flash. The image here was taken on that visit and was the sort of style that I wanted to achieve today.