Youth Team Launched - 22nd February 2010

Membership of the Junior club is for individuals up to 16 years old which leaves a gap until members can be accepted in some roles as adult Volunteers at age 18. With several members of the Junior Club now in their last year of membership before becoming full adult members, in order to ease their transition to working volunteers in their own right, the General Manager and Operations Manager have agreed a way of being able to give them further training as “active assistants” in the roles of guard, crossing keeper, ticket inspector, station assistant and controller. Acting General Manager, Alistair Gregory says "This approach will have two benefits in that it should reduce the formal training period before the individuals concerned are ready for assessment whilst, simultaneously, helping to maintain the interest of this very promising and hard working group of individuals".

As a result a formal list of minimum ages has now been produced.

Today, the WRyt (Weardale Railway Youth Team) is launched, allowing WRjc members the option to remain part of the club until they are 18 whilst training to a higher level in the same way as adult trainees.  WRyt members will remain associated with the Junior Club and can benefit from the WRjc training and activities.

Sponsored Walk - Saturday 19th July 2008 in support of the No 40 Appeal

The WRjc sponsored walk took place on Saturday 19th July 2008 and as a result in excess of £1,400 was raised for the Number 40 Appeal.

8 Junior members and 4 adults took part, covering a distance of 5.5 miles from Stanhope to Wolsingham. Photos of the event can be found on the Gallery page.

During August the WRjc will be bag packing at Asda and Morrisons in Bishop Auckland to raise further funds for the No 40 appeal and the WRjc. 

No 40 Appeal Cheque Presentation

Following the successful sponsored walk and bag packing at Asda, the Junior Club presented Weardale Railway Trust Treasurer, Trevor Hewitt, with a cheque for £2138.10 towards the No 40 appeal fund.

The presentation took place at Wolsingham station on Saturday 30th August 2008 as part of the Weardale Railway Gala Weekend.

Also as part of the Gala the Junior Club held a fund raising auction, for more details please go to http://www.weardale-railway.org.uk/news_2008.htm - the auction supported both the Junior Club and the No 40 appeal.

"Trainee of the Month" Award

The "Trainee of the Month" award scheme has now been launched as a way of rewarding commitment and behaviour.  The award is presented at the first training session each month and is awarded in recognition of the previous month's performance.

Members are awarded points for good behaviour, training attendance, "going the extra mile", for good feedback and other commitment, however, points are deducted for negative feedback or "not so good" behaviour!

The member receiving the award retains the trophy for a month and also receives a certificate that they keep.

WRjc's first DVD "The First Year"

To celebrate WRjc's first birthday a special DVD covering the achievements of the last year has been produced.

The DVD is a compilation of photographs of the WRjc covering special events, visits and working on the railway.

To watch our DVD CLICK HERE (Note: this opens an external website).

Junior Club Update - April 2008

By Jordan Parker and Michael Wilkinson

The Weardale Railway Junior Club better known as the WRjc is a new part of the family of volunteers here at the Weardale railway and we are all aged between 11 and 15. We have been meeting at Stanhope station for six months normally on a Friday night.

During this time we have learned Personal Track Safety (PTS) and we are currently working through the Weardale Railway company rule book. Once we have finished each section we get a full examination of that subject. If we pass the exam we receive a certificate. The current pass rate is 90%

Although the above is an important part of the Junior Club we also get rewarded by being granted foot plate and travel passes and also being taken on field trips. On Saturday 29 March 2008 a group of us were taken to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for the LNER festival weekend. We got to travel behind all three of the A4 locomotives, 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley, 60009 Union of South Africa and 60019 Bittern that are still in use and got to see V2 No 4771 “The Green Arrow” on its final trip before being mothballed at the NRM in York.

A number of other trips are also planned for this year including the Tanfield Railway and the National Railway Museums at York and Shildon.

We are looking forward to being allowed to work on the line in the very near future. Although some duties will be restricted due to safety issues, we will be able to assist in such areas as Guard, TTI, station maintenance, shop and cafe duties to name but a few. We will not be handling cash unsupervised at any time.

We will be working on the following understanding:

• Only one junior will work in each task at a time, i.e. one TTI = one junior, unless the task requires more
• There is no pressure for adult volunteers to accept a junior to work with them
• Adult volunteers who have taken juniors with them previously can change their minds at any time without giving reasons
• We will behave and conduct ourselves professionally at all times

We feel as a group that we can contribute a lot to the running of the railway. We are more than willing to learn and take part in building the railway up so that it becomes the success it can be if given the chance.

The WRjc would like to take this opportunity to thank Donald Heath, Graham Lord and others who know who they are for their continuing support of our endeavors.

We look forward to working with you in the near future.

Junior Club Update - July 2008

By Jordan Parker and Michael Wilkinson

Hello from all at the WRjc !

The Junior ]Club is proving to be extremely popular, keeping the majority of its longer serving members and still introducing new faces, welcome to you all.

We have had an extremely busy few months since our last update.

On the 4th May a number of the club went to the Tanfield Railway for a working day. When we arrived we taken to their carriage shed where the juniors were paired up with members from their Youth Team who were their mentors for the day. Following a brief about rules and safety those attending enjoyed a ride on Sir Cecil Cochrane to the end of the line where a buffet lunch had been provided, during the run we were given a commentary about the area and the history of the line.

After lunch we walked up to Causey Arch where we rejoined Sir Cecil returning to our original starting point.

When we got there we were given the option of either helping to sand down a Guard's van outside or to help clean the tank engines that are in storage. Needless to say all chose to clean the engines and great fun was had by all, including the adults present.

A return visit by the Tanfield Youth Team is planned to take place on Sunday 10th August.

On the 10th and 11th May the club was also pleased to help out at the Weardale Railway Locomotive Preservation Group model exhibition in Spennymoor. Again, all those who assisted had a great time and helped to staff the entrance and the WRjc / Weardale Railway stand and were also privileged to be allowed to help operate some of the displays, so much so that it has been decided to set up the WRjc Model Club which is to be based at Stanhope.

The Junior Club has also been involved in many of the activities that have been run by the railway over the past few months. This has included escorting and assisting Bruce the Bear at the Teddy Bears weekend (for which Bruce was extremely grateful! ), running tombola stalls, helping to prepare the field, assisting in the café to name but a few so we are being kept very busy.

On the 19th July those who were available did a five and a half mile sponsored walk from Stanhope Station to Wolsingham station in order to raise funds toward the No 40 Appeal. This went extremely well except the weather changed for the last mile and by the time we reached Wolsingham station we were soaked from head to foot but our spirits remained high. The total raised was in excess of £2,100.

We still have some very busy times ahead, we will be helping out with the upcoming events as well as doing some more fund raising by doing some bag packs in Asda and hopefully Morrisons as well. These funds will be split between the No 40 fund and also funding for the WRjc itself, as we receive no funds from the railway.

On the 16th August we will be going to the National Railway Museum in York and will also go on the Yorkshire Wheel and a river trip and we are really looking forward to it.

Until the next time, best wishes and thank you from us all here at the WRjc

Junior Club Update - October 2008

By Michael Wilkinson & Jordan Parker

Since our last article the WRjc has been heavily involved in many aspects of helping to operate the railway.

Just before the last issue of Between the Lines we assisted with the preparations for the War on the Line event, helping to set up the station and field exhibits. Some of us actively took part in the event by dressing up as evacuees and members of the armed forces (see Gallery). On the Sunday evening we helped to clear up and remove the decorations returning the station to the present day.

We have played host to the Junior members of the Tanfield Railway who got to ride on the 141, visit and work in the depot and also had the opportunity to travel down to Harperley to pick up some telegraph poles that had needed to be removed on the large Whickham and trailer.

A trip to York followed on which each member of the Junior Club got the opportunity to travel 1st class with National Express East Coast in one direction. While we were in York we visited the National Railway Museum, rode the Yorkshire Wheel (or clung onto in some cases !), enjoyed a River Cruise and saw the model railways situated in York Station itself (see Gallery).

In September some of the group enjoyed a trip to the Wensleydale Railway for their Diesel Gala weekend. Also in September the club took part in a major incident exercise that took place at Stanhope Station in which the DMU had had a disagreement with a Nissan Micra. Surprisingly the DMU won (see Gallery).

We have also continued to study the rules of the railway and shadowing the adult members where and when permitted to gain valuable experience which we continue to be extremely thankful for.

On Saturday 11th October we did another bag pack session, this time at Morrison’s in Bishop Auckland to raise funds for the Junior Club with a contribution made towards the completion of No 40. To this date we have now raised the grand total of £2822.10 (or £122.70 per junior club member /t rainer) for the No 40 appeal which is pretty good going. Also while at Morrison’s we were given around 600 “Lets Grow” vouchers, which will be given to Wolsingham Comprehensive School towards gardening projects.

Each month Junior Club members are given points for various reasons (and points taken away for negative behaviour if necessary). The junior who gains the most is now given an award, which they can keep for a month and a certificate. The top scorers are then given a “bonus” of some sort in recognition of their efforts. On Sunday the top 4 scoring members got to revisit Tanfield again, mainly to donate a projector screen and overhead projector that David Million had received from National Express East Coast. Whilst there they got to travel behind a mock coal train, assist the conductor (John) by checking the tickets and helping out at the level crossing. Many thanks to the Tanfield team for making us feel so welcome again; we are developing a strong link between the two lines, which can only be for the good of both.

The WRjc is now almost 1 year old and has 20 members at the time of writing this article. David Million has kindly compiled and produced a DVD that includes photographs of the first year of the club. This can be found by clicking here.

We are proud to continue being part of the Weardale Railway in these exciting times and look forward to being able to continue to learn and gain experience so that we can become more and more useful to the railway and the people around us.

Northern Echo - Tuesday 18th November 2008

Northern Echo - Tuesday 30th December 2008