From 1996 the members celebrated the New Year by operating the railway in the last hours of the outgoing year and into the first hour of the New Year. By 1999/2000 this had become a very spectacular event with trains operating into those early hours. The sounds of Big Ben and a small firework display celebrated what was to be the last such event on the railway. In the afternoon a train service was operated both for visitors and the members. Sadly 2000 was the last year of train operation by our group. We would have liked to have carried this event to Thorne but being a public park it does impose certain restrictions. At Thorne due to an ongoing renewal programme of the outer circuit the "First Train of 2006" has had to be put forward to the 8th January 2006.
The electric locomotive "Mufuta" was the locomotive that usually saw in the New Year event will be on display at Thorne including a reprinted 1997 headboard.