Ken Whitcombe suggested that a rail trip, possibly including the Glacier Express would be appropriate for the President’s annual outing. Unfortunately my family commitments meant I could not spend too many days away so a rethink was necessary.
As we had not had a ‘Railway Boys’ outing and few of us had not been to National Railway Museum at Shildon I suggested that a trip to York area would be a good idea. The program developed to provide alternative activities for those not railway minded.
Ken with Tom Taylor’s help produced an absolutely wonderful trip. It was pretty well full on for each of the three days. 
The program included either a visit to the National Railway Museum York or a walking tour of the City on Sunday; a trip on the North York Moors Railway from Pickering to Whitby with optional stop off at Grosmont on Monday; the Shildon visit or a Durham Cathedral tour on Tuesday. The group included guests from Telford Centre & Ironbridge Clubs and other friends who were impressed by our organisation, time keeping, and friendship – we have to remember that without them the trip would not have been viable.
I certainly enjoyed myself and I am extremely grateful to Tom, Ken & Paula for the time and effort put in to making the event so successful and I was only too pleased to reward them with model A4 Pacifics ‘Bittern’ & ‘Mallard’.
A full report of the visit will be in the next edition of Rotabilia.