Warship D832 hauled a special train from Bishops Lydeard to Williton formed of the 'Quantock Belle' Dining Train. On arrival our guests were given a tour of the facilities and shown around the locos. Members of the team explained some of the current challenges and projects such as the work on the transmission for D7018 and the engine currently being re-built for D1010. Voith are a very successful manufacturer of a number of components used in railway applications such as transmissions. MTU are the successor of Maybach and MTU engines are currently fitted to the whole fleet of HST power cars on First Great Western.
The train was worked by a core crew of DEPG staff with both Drivers and the Guard being active DEPG volunteers.
After the break at Williton we continued on to Minehead where an excellent lunch was served on the train. Following this there were several presentations by the Chairman and long serving member/loco owner Clive Burrows to extend our thanks to the visitors for coming. A visit to the loco works at Minehead was undertaken before the train returned to Bishops Lydeard and we said a fond fairwell to our guests. At Minehead, several of the guests had to return to Germany that evening so a direct taxi was organised to Bristol Airport.
On the 16th September our quests from Voith and some of the DEPG team spent the day in Bath showing them and their wifes the sights of this beautiful city, in the evening, all guests from MTU and Voith joined DEPG Chairman and team to an excellent meal in a hotel in the somerset countryside where presentations, speeches and a good number of excellent discussions and stories were enjoyed.
The loco hauled trip on the 17th was very successful with D832 and the QB team doing the honours. The DEPG are very grateful for the support of MTU and Voith. To have us all together celebrating the companies past and present acheivements together was very special
A very enjoyable day out, some photos below.
Bob Tiller & Matt Cambourne
