Sheffield Branch Christmas Social

MEETING REPORT 12.12.23

Our December afternoon meeting was very disappointing in terms of the numbers attending.  Traffic issues in the city and perhaps the intensity of Christmas shopping will have played a part.  Notwithstanding this, those attending entered into the spirit of things.  The two quizzes   presented by the branch chairman proved to be as competitive as usual.  Owing to the unavailability of the planned speaker, our fixtures secretary – Robert Pritchard stepped in to provide a selection of seasonal photos from his extensive collection.  Snow was an overriding feature.   We saw classes 142, 158 & 185 in the Hope Valley.  Also some attractive shots of the East Lancashire Railway, featuring a class 47 & a brace of class 55 ‘Deltics’.  A smattering of trams was included with a particularly nice shot of a Metrolink tram at St. Peter’s Square in Manchester,  His travels abroad were not forgotten, with examples from the Eurotunnel (French side), the Czech Republic, Slovakia and even St. Petersburg!  Local shots of Sheffield station and of Dore & Totley on the city environs were featured.  Robert (he is the editor of the magazine ‘Today’s Railways’)  explored in photos the Port Talbot steelworks during his visit in 2023.  Apparently it operates 15/16 works shunters and 25 miles of track.  We saw Trojan, Brush Bagnall and Clayton CBD90 (hybrid) shunters, working in situ.  The session ended with a final quiz of ‘name the location’, which as usual was fiendishly difficult, although one attendee scored quite highly!