Category: News

Senior Minion Potter Reporting: I think we (we being 3417's Loyal Minions) have mentioned before that this railway preservation lark isn't all about Glamour, Girls & Riches Beyond The Dreams of Avarice. Some of it is dirty and boring and bloody hard graft. Last Sunday's work day was a fine example of this point; lot of dirt and heavy lifting punctuated by mild swearing and tea. The work crew consisted of yours truly and Darren and the task was very simple: tidy up the shed. Of course, before we started work there are certain things that have to be seen to and Depot Operating Procedure Section 4, sub-section 6 was duly dealt with on arrival. For those who don't know how seriously the SETG take proper operating procedures, please find…

  Thanks to our chums at the Swanage Railway, who were staging their lauded Diesel Gala this weekend, we got to see a glimpse of it. Enjoy the sound of a Class 33 Crompton and a 4TC at the gallop on the South Western Mainline. How long until we see 3417 doing the same? Watch this space! Video credits to 'VehicularBrit' and '04clemea' - both channels worth a browse on Youtube. [embed]https://youtu.be/CNDE401uvaM[/embed] [embed]https://youtu.be/Ebqqnjkcnfc[/embed]

We have been extremely busy during the past few months, and it's time to bring you up-to-date on some of the developments regarding the restoration of No. 3417. After discussions involving the Senior Minions and Mr Pettitt himself over the last month we have decided that the restoration project deserves a name: we have christened it 'Project Phoenix'. In order to make the project manageable, and in order to allow us to bring the unit back to a "paying basis", the project will be conducted in phases. This phasing of work will allow us to make the best use of our current finances and to aim our small technical team at specific goals. We will be setting up an additional page on the website in due course to give you…

Welcome to our new website. Thanks for all the kind comments, if you have any feedback please email webmaster@setg.org.uk  

Editors Note: Good morning, Followers of the VEP. Apologies for the period of radio silence. As you're all well aware by now, Real Life is a cruel mistress which conspires to keep us railway herberts away from 3417 and dealing with annoyingly grown up things. However, Adulting has once again been put on hold to allow us to continue gainful tinkering with the worlds only working 4VEP. And on that note, I had you over to Chris Buckland, SETG CM&EE, to inform you all of progress and bring all that's newest in news, gossip and abuse aimed at myself. Regards, Potter "It's been a while since the Minions have been at Strawberry Hill; things like holidays, drinking, eating and the like have got in the way (and the Big Railway, as…

And now, the Senior Spanner Monkey Speaks... "TONIGHT WE WAS MOVIE STARS” Turned up at Strawberry in a blaze of sunshine. It’s nice to see the Sun (I'm a frustrated Michael Fish), and proceeded to adhere to Section 4 Sub Section 6 but unfortunately found myself unable to carry out the instruction fully as there was NO MILK. That’s not strictly true, there was milk but it had turned into a rather strange looking cheese that I'm sure anyone would eat. I have an idea; lets cultivate it, sell it to the French, make lots of money and add the profits to the JustGiving site (details below): https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/4VEP3417 Any opportunity to plug the fund!! Back to the job in hand! Emergency text sent to Potter "GET MILK" as the job will fall to…

Good Afternoon, dear reader. As you may or may not be aware, last night we - the humble scrotes of Strawberry Hill - entertained a celebrity for an evening. Mr Tim Dunn, noted railway historian, railway geek and host of the BBC's Transporting Live, joined us for the evening. The idea was to raise awareness of the work we're doing at Strawberry Hill and of course to add some final impetus to the SETG's fund-raising endeavours on behalf of the Bluebell Railway. I could bore you with the ins-and-outs of the evening, but to be honest you're best off watching either the Periscope Feed or Facebook feed and judge our efforts for yourselves. All I can say with any certainty is that we reached 3,000 viewers live; not too shabby…

And now, as promised - it's a report from Trousers! "Chaps, A small update this time as we were unable to do a full days work. I had a date in the evening with a train, on which beer is sold and is hauled by a steam loco to celebrate my advancing years! (Happy Birthday, mate! - Potter) I carried on with the cab restoration in the country end cab. This involved removing some stubborn screws which had probably been in place since the unit was built! They were (eventually) removed and a new panel cut for fitting under the cab window on the second man's side. After much measuring, getting up and down from the unit, trimming bits, swearing and trying not to break the fragile bits, the panel was fitted!…

ood Morning, Friends of the VEP. For those of you that haven't been shamelessly and obsessively following us on Twitter and Facebook (For shame! Naughty you! Hold your head in sorrow & embarrassment and stand in the Naughty Corner), the Bluebell Railway came a'calling on Saturday. To say that we have been nervous about this impending meeting would be an understatement. For myself and Oscar it meant meeting some VIPs, for Bucky it meant meeting the men who were the BR Top Brass when he started as a spotty apprentice in the early 1980s. So where two of us were nervous, one of us was transformed from a confident depot manager in charge of a multi-million pound fleet of machinery into an overawed teenager, but more of that later in Bucky's…