New role – Volunteer crossing keeper

On Saturday I completed my training at Damens Station, the country’s smallest standard standard-gauge station, to become a volunteer crossing-keeper for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway; yesterday I had my first turn, in charge of Oakworth Station. The station was made famous for being a focal point in the 1970 film of Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children. The railway keep the station in the condition it would have been in between 1905 and 1910, so gas-lighting throughout.

I’d have loved to show you a beautiful sunny picture of Oakworth Station. It was not to be. The weather was appauling. Torrential rain was washing gravel down Station Road into the rails so just keeping the crossing clear was difficult. I made sure I had roaring fires in the grates so my coat got a little drier between trains.

Its a passtime I’m really enjoying – nothing like Health Informatics at all but still with responsibility keeping passengers and trains safe, turning trains around and dispatching them quickly and keeping the disruption caused by the closure of Station Road to a minimum.

I’ve also been roped in to provide strategic advice for the Railway’s IT architecture. If you’re interested in helping the Railway, or, being selfish, helping me with the IT architecture (you needn’t be local), drop me a line.