00:00Yeah, very much so.
00:26Very pleased to see the number of people here today.
00:29I mean, you say the weather is typical British weather.
00:32It's the first of January, it's not snow, but it's a howling gale
00:34and it's chucking it down with rain.
00:36What more could you ask for?
00:38But a lot of people have said it's nice to get out and about
00:41no matter what the weather.
00:42I mean, steam railways, they play, well, they play a key role
00:46in the development of this country through the Industrial Revolution.
00:51And the greatest reward we as preservationists get
00:55is when people say thank you, because without us,
00:58this would probably be either, you know, baked bean tins or razor blades.
01:24Well, it's very exciting.
01:25I mean, I've been involved in the Bouvard Railway for over 20 years,
01:28which is quite a short time compared to some of our volunteers.
01:32And I've always been interested in railways.
01:34I mean, I can remember travelling behind steam railways as a child
01:37and as a young man.
01:38So, yes, it's a very special, very special time,
01:41certainly to get us out on weather like this.
01:43Well, it's underinvested in, it suffers from underinvestment.
01:48And I look forward to the future and growing.
01:51It's interesting that it's gone
01:55in my life.
01:56It's gone full circle from when I was a young man in the 60s.
01:59The railways were contracting.
02:01And now, as I had in my 70s, it's expanding again.
02:04It's gone a complete circle in that half century.
02:25Well, because you see people from all walks of life,
02:29you get all sorts of questions about railways, about anything and everything.
02:34So that's always a fascinating part of the job,
02:37which never, you know, never loses its interest, really.
02:42Yeah, there's all sorts of little things that you notice.
02:44There's one guard on the East Coast Main Line.
02:46I'm not sure if he's still there now.
02:48But he said, whenever I go around and check tickets,
02:52if there's kids, I will let them clip the tickets
02:55because that pleases the kids and the parents.
02:58And then if you get any problems on the way, the train is on your side.
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