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.

Mid Week School Holiday Special August 1999 at Sandtoft
Above we see the start of the day for one of the two August School Holiday Specials that was held in 1999 by the railway group. We hired  a trolleybus for the second of the two events.  Holding a trolleybus driving license and one of the other members held a conductors license for the trolleybuses we were able to give not only train rides but a trolleybus rides too on the second of the two August School Holiday Specials. By mid-afternoon these two events saw the car park overflowing and two full double deck bus loads of visitors arriving.

Two of our former SMR members who attempted to keep a miniature railway operating at Sandtoft have now joined us with the operations of the miniature railway at Thorne. Keith has made a valuable contribution, his efforts with the track laying at Thorne have been far more successful thanks to the being able to use the proper rail that has been obtained with funding from Doncaster CEN. Keith has very successfully helped to get the electric locomotive "Mufuta" back into service by fitting the new wheels and control equipment. He is also helping to service the other locomotives that belong to the Doncaster & District Model Engineering Society and those owned by other members. Thanks to Keith's efforts all the electric locomotives have been fitted with buffers. There are plenty of challenges ahead for the 2006 operating season at Thorne, I am sure Keith will be able to help us all to sort these out.   Also a thanks to Rachel his wife and family for the help they give. 

First of all I must apologize for the lack of work to this website, Time has been taken up by our members working so hard on the recent developments on the Thorne Memorial Park Miniature Railway and at Crich, and the east Anglia Transport Museum. When I last worked on the "Latest News Page" I think spring had just arrived, now I am seeing the first early signs of Autumn. However I hope you have been able to keep up with the developments at Thorne by regularly visiting the Thorne Memorial Park Miniature Railway website. Here you will have seen many of the familiar faces of our members taking part in the activities and events they have been involved in.
Already July has been and gone and August is nearing the last few days too. July was always our busiest time of the year at Sandtoft working to get the railway, the Axholme Stores windows redisplayed, event tickets printed and a whole multitude of other things ready including the wonderful task of cleaning the toilets. Yes that was one thing that our late member Rose Hawksworth worked so hard on. The Sandtoft Gathering Event was the highlight of the year.

A contrast in locations for Keith Fox. On the left Keith is driving the Royal Scot locomotive at the July Sandtoft Gathering event whilst on the right we see him July 2006 about to depart at the Thorne Memorial Park Miniature Railway with the steam locomotive at the 2006 Summer Festival Event

On the photograph directly above we see the locomotive Mufuta being driven by Charlie Furda and a sack trolley loaded with suitcases with Ron Hawksworth. Charlie Furda is one of the volunteer members at the Stockholes Farm Railway only a mile down the road towards Belton. The sack trolley can be seen at the Cleethorpes Light Railway nicely repainted, whilst the electric locomotive was photographed on the 5th November 2006 at the Thorne Memorial Park Miniature Railway. Ron has taken time out to build a bungalow for himself and his wife Wendy, the building of the engine shed at Sandtoft in 1996 proved to be a valuable source of knowledge for them, both of whom are still members of the SMR Group.